Bible Strands
Luke 3:28
the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Luke records Jesus’s genealogy as a continuous list of ancestral names following the baptismal narrative. The text places this verse between the lines for Luke 3:27 and Luke 3:29, maintaining a strict forward-to-backward generational sequence.
The words — The Greek particle τοῦ (tou) appears repeatedly as a genitive marker translating literally to “of” or “son of.” Proper nouns like Μελχὶ (Melchi) and Ἀδδὶ (Addi) are listed without predicates or descriptive qualifiers, functioning purely as sequential identifiers.
The thread — This structural pattern mirrors the genealogical method in Luke 3:27 and Luke 3:29, where each line begins with “the son of” to link generations. The same sequential naming convention appears in Matthew 1, though that account traces the line forward rather than backward.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to accept a factual, unembellished chain of human descent without searching for hidden symbolism. It asks for historical verification of lineage, treating each name as a necessary link in a documented record.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er,