Bible Strands
Matthew 1:17
In all, then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Matthew 1:17 functions as a structural summary at the end of a genealogical list, immediately preceding the narrative account of Jesus’s birth in Matthew 1:18.
The words — The Greek text employs γενεαὶ (geneai, “generations”) and ἕως (heōs, “to” or “until”) to define the chronological boundaries of each fourteen-generation segment.
The thread — The phrase “exile to Babylon” corresponds to the historical events recorded in 2 Kings 24:14 and Jeremiah 27:20, while the lineage framework is grounded in the ancestral line detailed in Matthew 1:11.
Why it lands — The verse demands that the reader acknowledge the deliberate numerical symmetry of the genealogy and recognize Jesus as the designated endpoint of the promised line from Abraham through David.
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
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Cross-references
- Matthew 1:11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
- 2 Kings 24:14 He carried into exile all Jerusalem—all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths—ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.
- Jeremiah 27:20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
- Matthew 11:2 Meanwhile John heard in prison about the works of Christ, and he sent his disciples
- John 1:41 He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).