Abraham was the father of Isaac: notice that Good News Translation restructures verses 2-16 (2-6a, 6b-11, 12-16) on the basis of the information given in verse 17: “So then, there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and fourteen from David to the exile in Babylon, and fourteen from then to the birth of the Messiah.” That is, at the beginning of each list (verses 2a, 6b, 12), Good News Bible provides a summary of the ancestors to be mentioned: “From Abraham to King David … From David to the time when the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon … From the time after the exile in Babylon to the birth of Jesus….” This has the advantage of presenting the lists in a way that is natural in English. However, if the reader looks for the fourteen generations (see verse 17) in each of these lists, he may still be at a loss as to what persons are to be included, because this information is still not immediately evident. Therefore the following restructuring may be helpful in making all the relevant information immediately evident for the reader:
• This is the list of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of David, who was a descendant of Abraham.
There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David:
1. Abraham
2. Isaac
3. Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers
4. Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar)
5. Perez
6. Hezron
7. Ram
8. Amminadab
9. Nahshon
10. Salmon
11. Boaz (Rahab was his mother)
12. Obed (Ruth was his mother)
13. Jesse
14. King David
There were fourteen generations from David to the time when the people were carried away to Babylon:
1. David
2. Solomon (his mother had been Uriah’s wife)
3. Rehoboam
4. Abijah
5. Asa
6. Jehoshaphat
7. Jehoram
8. Uzziah
9. Jotham
10. Ahaz
11. Hezekiah
12. Manasseh
13. Amon
14. Josiah, the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers, at the time when the people of Israel were carried away to Babylon.
There were fourteen generations from the time the people were carried away to Babylon to the birth of the Promised Savior:
1. Jechoniah
2. Shealtiel
3. Zerubbabel
4. Abiud
5. Eliakim
6. Azor
7. Zadok
8. Achim
9. Eliud
10. Eleazar
11. Matthan
12. Jacob
13. Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus
14. Jesus, the Promised Savior (the Messiah).
In many societies it is common to give the lists of the ancestors of people. But even in those societies where it is not often done, there will generally be ways to do it that people can follow easily. When translating these lists in verses 2-16, it is important to keep in mind what is normal and what the readers will follow easily. It may be that putting a restatement of the summary in verse 17 at the beginning will be helpful. This can be done as in Good News Translation, or as we suggested above: “There were 14 generations from Abraham to King David.” Other suggestions are “The descendants Abraham had up to the time of King David are these” or “These are the names of the descendants of Abraham until the time of King David.”
This type of summary introductory statement may not be helpful or necessary in all languages. But those translators who do find it helpful will not only use one here in verse 2, but also in verses 6b and 12.
Some languages will normally use the formula “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac was the father of Jacob…” throughout the genealogy, much as Matthew did it. Translators will then follow the text quite closely. Other languages have formulas that mention the sons, as in “Abraham, his son was Isaac. Isaac, his son was Jacob….” There are also languages that find it more natural to say “Isaac, his father was Abraham. Jacob, his father was Isaac….”
Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob: in 1 Chronicles 1.34 the Hebrew text has “Israel,” whereas the Greek translation has Jacob, which indicates that Matthew is following the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew text. Matthew then takes the name Judah from 1 Chronicles 2.1 and summarizes with the phrase and his brothers, whereas in the Septuagint the names are listed individually.
Judah and his brothers: readers who do not know the Old Testament at all find it strange to add “and his brothers.” These readers suggest that of course Jacob was also the father of Judah’s brothers, or they would not be his brothers! The important historical information is that the twelve of them founded Israel’s twelve tribes, and this information should be given in a footnote.
Some languages normally use a word which means “siblings,” which covers both brothers and sisters. Since the text is speaking here of twelve specific brothers, then in those languages translators need to say “his male siblings” or “Jacob was the father of Judah and of the other sons.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .