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Jesus's Family Tree

Before Jesus was born, His family stretched back 40 generations — from His mother and father, all the way back to Abraham. Matthew 1 lays it out as three neat sets of fourteen generations.

Generation 0

His Mother & Father

Mary

Mother

"Let it be to me according to your word" — a young woman from Nazareth who said yes to God and carried and raised the Son of God.

Luke 1:26–56; 2:1–20

Joseph

Father (adoptive/legal)

A carpenter from the royal line of David, who obeyed an angel's instructions and raised Jesus as his own son.

Matthew 1:18–25

14 generations

Abraham to King David

The first fourteen generations of Matthew's genealogy — the founding of a family that became a nation.

  1. Abraham

    Matthew 1:2

    Called by God to leave everything and become the father of a great nation.

  2. Isaac

    Matthew 1:2

    The promised son, born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age.

  3. Jacob

    Matthew 1:2

    Renamed Israel; father of the twelve tribes.

  4. Judah

    Matthew 1:2–3

    Jacob's son, whose descendants became the royal tribe of Judah — his sons Perez and Zerah were born to Tamar.

  5. Perez

    Matthew 1:3

  6. Hezron

    Matthew 1:3

  7. Ram

    Matthew 1:3–4

  8. Amminadab

    Matthew 1:4

  9. Nahshon

    Matthew 1:4

    A leader of the tribe of Judah during the exodus from Egypt.

  10. Salmon

    Matthew 1:5

    Married Rahab, the woman who hid Israel's spies in Jericho.

  11. Boaz

    Matthew 1:5

    The kind landowner who married Ruth the Moabite.

  12. Obed

    Matthew 1:5

    The son of Boaz and Ruth, and grandfather of King David.

  13. Jesse

    Matthew 1:5–6

    A shepherd from Bethlehem and the father of King David.

  14. David

    The KingMatthew 1:6

    The shepherd boy who became Israel's greatest king — the fourteenth generation from Abraham.

14 generations

David to the Exile

Fourteen more generations — the kings of Judah, down to the nation's darkest hour.

  1. Solomon

    Matthew 1:6

    David's son with Bathsheba (called "Uriah's wife" in Matthew's list); the wisest king who ever lived.

  2. Rehoboam

    Matthew 1:7

    Solomon's son, whose harsh rule split the kingdom in two.

  3. Abijah

    Matthew 1:7

  4. Asa

    Matthew 1:7–8

    A king of Judah remembered for tearing down idols.

  5. Jehoshaphat

    Matthew 1:8

    A king known for trusting God before battle.

  6. Joram

    Matthew 1:8

  7. Uzziah

    Matthew 1:8–9

    A powerful king whose pride led him to overstep his role in the temple.

  8. Jotham

    Matthew 1:9

  9. Ahaz

    Matthew 1:9

  10. Hezekiah

    Matthew 1:9–10

    A faithful king who prayed for healing and saw Jerusalem spared from Assyria.

  11. Manasseh

    Matthew 1:10

    Judah's most wicked king, who later repented after being taken captive.

  12. Amon

    Matthew 1:10

  13. Josiah

    Matthew 1:10–11

    A boy king who led one of Judah's greatest reforms after finding the lost Book of the Law.

  14. Jeconiah

    The ExileMatthew 1:11

    King when Judah was carried off to Babylon — the fourteenth generation from David.

12 generations

The Exile to Jesus

The final fourteen generations, from a captive nation to the birth of the Messiah.

  1. Shealtiel

    Matthew 1:12

    Born during the years Judah's royal family lived in exile in Babylon.

  2. Zerubbabel

    Matthew 1:12–13

    Led the first group of exiles back home and helped rebuild the temple.

  3. Abiud

    Matthew 1:13

  4. Eliakim

    Matthew 1:13

  5. Azor

    Matthew 1:13–14

  6. Zadok

    Matthew 1:14

  7. Akim

    Matthew 1:14

  8. Eliud

    Matthew 1:14–15

  9. Eleazar

    Great-great-grandfatherMatthew 1:15

  10. Matthan

    Great-grandfatherMatthew 1:15

  11. Jacob

    GrandfatherMatthew 1:16

  12. Joseph

    FatherMatthew 1:16

    "The husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah."

Kim with an idea
Did you know? The Bible actually gives two genealogies for Jesus. Matthew 1 (used above) traces the royal line through King Solomon down to Joseph. Luke 3:23–38 gives a second list that also runs through Joseph but names different people after David — through his son Nathan instead — all the way back to Adam. Most Bible teachers think Luke’s list may follow Mary’s side of the family, since Joseph is called "the son of Heli" there. Either way, the Bible never names Mary’s own parents, so this timeline stays with what Scripture actually tells us.
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