It is not always easy to speak of generations. Some languages use the same word as for ancestors. The translation may then be “So from Abraham to David there were fourteen ancestors of Jesus” or “From David back to Abraham there were fourteen ancestors.” Another way would be to use the word “descendant,” as in “Abraham had fourteen descendants until David.” But it would be very important to make sure that such a sentence was understood in the sense of a line of generations, and not, for example, that one man had fourteen sons.

For notes on other parts of the verse, see verses 2, 6b, and 12.

To the Christ is translated as “to the birth of the Messiah” by Good News Translation. Both here and in verse 16 there is a problem related to the translation of the word rendered Christ by Revised Standard Version and “Messiah” by Good News Translation. In the Greek text there is no definite article before the word in verse 16, though there is in verse 17. The problem then is whether in both places or in either of these places the term “Christ” is used in the technical sense of “the Messiah” or simply as part of the proper name of Jesus. Good News Translation, together with a few other translations (New English Bible, New American Bible, Barclay, Bible en français courant), understands this to be the technical term referring to the promised Savior-King, and so translates “Messiah.” All of these translations have “Messiah” in verse 16 and “the Messiah” in verse 17, maintaining a formal rendering of the Greek text. The Greek word “Christ” is, of course, simply the equivalent of the Hebrew word “Messiah.”

See Matthew 1.1 for comments on the translation of Christ.

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 .