In 1 Chronicles 2.11 Salmon is listed as the father of Boaz, though Rahab is not mentioned. Obed and Jesse are Septuagint forms and come from 1 Chronicles 2.12. The names of the women Rahab and Ruth are not listed in the genealogy of 1 Chronicles.

David the king: there are several ways to translate this naturally: “King David” (Good News Translation) or “David who was (or, became) king.” Some languages have to specify the people over whom he was king. These translations can say “the king of Israel.”

Those translators who used a short summary at the beginning of verse 2 to introduce the list of ancestors will do a similar thing here: “These are the descendants of David until the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon” or “After David, and until the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon, these are the names of his descendants.”

For Good News Translation‘s “Babylon” and “exile” (or, “deportation”), see comments on verse 11.

Solomon is listed in 1 Chronicles 3.5, 10. As with Rahab and Ruth, the wife of Uriah is not given in the Chronicles list, either by name or by indirect allusion.

By the wife of Uriah: as with “by Tamar” in Matthew 1.3, this phrase may need a separate sentence: “His mother was Uriah’s wife.” In many cases it is important to specify that she was not Uriah’s wife at the time of Solomon’s birth but had been his wife previously. Translators can follow Good News Translation or even say “His mother had been the wife of Uriah before.”

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 .