The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but differ radically from that point. Matthew has twenty-seven generations from David to Joseph, whereas Luke has forty-two, with almost no overlap between the names on the two lists. Notably, the two accounts also disagree on who Joseph’s father was: Matthew says he was Jacob, while Luke says he was Heli.
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Matthew 1:1–17 begins the Gospel with a record of the origin of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, and continues on until Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Luke’s Genealogy
In the Gospel of Luke, the genealogy appears at the beginning of the public life of Jesus. This version is in ascending order from Joseph to Adam. After telling of the baptism of Jesus, Luke 3:23–38 states, “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was [the son] of Heli, …” (3:23) and continues on until “Adam, which was the son of God.” The Greek text of Luke’s Gospel does not use the word “son” in the genealogy after “son of Joseph”. Robertson notes that, in the Greek, “Luke has the article tou repeating uiou (Son) except before Joseph
| God Adam Seth Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Shem Arphaxad Cainan Shelah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor | Terah Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Perez Hezron Arni Admin Amminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz Obed Jesse David Nathan Mattatha Menna Melea | Jonam Joseph Judah Simeon Levi Matthat Jorim Eliezer Jesus Er Elmodam Cosam Addi Melchi Neri Shealtiel Zerubbabel Rhesa Joannan | Joda Josech Semei Mattathias Maath Nagge Esli Naum Amos Mattathias Joseph Jannai Melchi Levi Matthat Heli Joseph Jesus |