Matthew 1:17

Matthew 1:17 is the seventeenth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verse is the conclusion to the section where the genealogy of Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, is listed.

The original Koine Greek, according to Westcott and Hort, reads:

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 1:17

Scholars see a number of reasons for this summary verse. The dividing of the genealogy in three groups of fourteen helps for the memorization of the list. The dividing Jewish history into three eras, with David at the end of one period and the exile to Babylon the end of the second places the birth of Jesus on an equal footing with these earlier major events. The division also makes it seem as though this is the right time for another major event. The numbers may be linked to Daniel 9:24-27, which states that seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, would pass between the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the messiah. Since generations were commonly placed at 35 years, this means exactly 14 generations. Davies and Allison also note that this might be linked to the lunar calendar. The lunar month is 28 days, 14 days of waxing and 14 days of waning. Thus the first grouping could be the initial waxing to David, the next fourteen the waning to the Babylonian captivity and the last period the waxing towards Jesus. Calculations based on this verse led Joachim of Fiore to predict the Second Coming would occur in the 13th century.

The number 14 is itself important. It is twice 7, which was considered a holy number. David's name, when turned into numbers, adds up to fourteen. 3 groups of 14 is the same of 6 groups of 7. W. D. Davies and Dale Allison mention a theory that the first six periods reflect the first six days of the week, with Jesus begins the seventh day, that of the eternal Sabbath.

...
Wikipedia