What Does Luke 3:25 Mean?
Who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Amos, who was the son of Naum, who was the son of Esli, who was the son of Nagge.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge,THE KEY
The repeated “son of” makes this a chain of identity carried through named lives, not a string of disconnected names.
THE MEANING
Your life does not begin in isolation; it arrives through lives before you. Here, each “son of” places Jesus within a particular human line, one named link at a time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Identity begins with the self, cut off from everyone who came before.
THE ROOT
υἱός
huios
GROWS FROM
υἱ-
hui-
son, child, descendant
“son” in this verse is huios. The Greek word can name a descendant, not only an immediate child. Repeated here, it makes the line itself visible: each person is connected to the next through descent.
ALSO GROWS
huiothesia: adoption as a son
υἱοθεσία
This related word shows sonship as a recognized family relation, bringing belonging into view alongside biological descent.
huios Dauid: son or descendant of David
υἱὸς Δαυίδ
The same word can mark a line of descent across generations, illuminating the chain of names in this verse.
מַתִּתְיָהוּ
Mattityahu
GROWS FROM
נָתַן
natan
to give, set, place
“Mattathias” in this verse is Mattityahu. The Hebrew name carries “gift” within it, so English readers hear a name where the Hebrew holds a meaning. The verse begins this stretch of the lineage with a person whose name speaks of giving.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: gift
מַתָּן
This noun makes the name’s gift-language audible: a person’s name can carry a meaning within the family line.
natan: to give, set, place
נָתַן
The verb is the root behind the gift-language, joining the act of giving to what is given.
נַחוּם
Nahum
GROWS FROM
נָחַם
nacham
to comfort
Naum is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Nahum, whose root carries comfort. Alongside Mattathias, it shows that these names can hold meanings English presents only as sounds.
ALSO GROWS
nichum: comfort, consolation
נִחוּם
This noun carries the same root into the state of being comforted, giving the name a fuller range.
menachem: comforter
מְנַחֵם
This related form names one who comforts, showing another branch of the root’s meaning.
THE PATTERN
Scripture renders inheritance as a named line, linking each generation to those who came before.
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.And the women who were her neighbors called out a name for him, saying, A son is born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.THE THREAD
Who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God.The line continues backward until Adam, then names God at its far end. This verse’s chain of named ancestors belongs to a genealogy that reaches from Jesus’ human line back to humanity’s origin.
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