What Does Matthew 1:4 Mean in the King James?
And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The repeated word “begat” shares its Greek root with “generation,” “kin,” and “origin,” turning this list into a map of life received and carried onward.
THE MEANING
You are not a self-contained beginning: life reaches you through a chain of lives and extends beyond any single name. Aminadab’s name carries the sense of a noble or generous people, so this line preserves character in its names as well as descent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse undoes the belief that you begin wholly alone, with no life or identity received from others.
THE ROOT
ἐγέννησεν
egennēsen
GROWS FROM
γεν
gen
To beget or bring forth into birth.
“begat” in this verse is egennēsen. The Greek verb belongs to the same word family as generation, kin, and origin. The repeated word therefore holds birth and belonging together: each life comes from a source and becomes part of what follows.
ALSO GROWS
genos: Family, kin, kind, or stock.
γένος
The family sense makes each “begat” a link of belonging, not only a biological event.
genesis: Origin, birth, or beginning.
γένεσις
The lineage is a sequence of beginnings passed forward through named lives.
genēma: That which is born or brought forth; offspring.
γένημα
This branch names what each link in the line brings forth.
עַמִּינָדָב
ʿAmmînāḏāḇ
GROWS FROM
נדב
n-d-b
To act willingly or offer freely; the name is commonly understood as “my people are noble” or “my people are generous.”
Aminadab’s name joins a word for people or kin with the root of willing generosity. In this lineage, a name carries a quality alongside ancestry.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: Noble, generous, or willing-hearted.
נָדִיב
It makes the generosity within Aminadab’s name visible as a character of a person or people.
nedavah: A voluntary gift or freewill offering.
נְדָבָה
The same root connects generosity with what is freely given.
THE PATTERN
Life moves through named relations, carrying its origin forward into what comes next.
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.THE THREAD
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.Matthew’s repeated “begat” and John’s “born” are forms of γεννάω (gennaō), meaning to beget or bear. John extends the same birth-root beyond a family line: it can also name an origin “of God.”
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