Matthew 1:18

Matthew 1:18 is the eighteenth verse of Matthew 1 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. This verse opens the description of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.

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 1:18

As the previous verses contained nothing but a summary of Jesus' genealogy, this verse is the beginning of the narrative of Matthew, and has often been considered the true opening verse of the gospel. Boring notes that this verse is not part of the narrative to come, but is an initial introduction bringing the reader up to date on where things stand at the beginning of Matthew's story.

The word translated as birth, geneseos, is the same term that is used in Matthew 1:1. English editions invariably give different translations for the two, but the author of Matthew may have been trying to link the two verses with the second geneseos symbolically beginning the second section of the chapter.

The word translated as espoused, engaged, or most often betrothed refers to a specific institution of the period very different from the modern idea of an engagement. This period occurred after the main marriage ceremony had taken place and the marriage contracts had been signed. Dissolution thus required a formal divorce or the death of one partner. In general the betrothal ceremony took place when the woman was still very young, generally around age twelve or thirteen. After the ceremony she would remain in their father's house for around a year, and this period is what is referred to in this verse.

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