What Does Luke 3:26 Mean?
Who was the son of Maath, who was the son of Mattathias, who was the son of Semei, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Judah.
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 Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda,THE KEY
The Greek names each ancestor as “of” the next, while the KJV makes their son-to-parent link explicit: this line is carried by relationship.
THE MEANING
You are not an isolated beginning: your life stands within a chain of names and relationships that precedes and outlasts you. Each name is particular, and each “of” keeps a person connected to those who came before.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you are self-made or detached from the lives that came before you.
THE ROOT
Ἰούδα
Iouda
GROWS FROM
Ἰουδ-
The Greek name stem Ἰουδ- (Ioud-, “Judah/Judean identity”) appears in Ἰούδα. The name comes through Hebrew יְהוּדָה (Yehudah, “Judah”), which Genesis 29:35 links with יָדָה (yadah, “praise”).
“Juda” in this verse is Iouda. The name in this genealogy carries more than a place in the chain: its Hebrew naming story connects Judah with praise. The line is made of particular names, each carrying meaning along with descent.
ALSO GROWS
Ioudaios: A person identified with Judah or Judea.
Ἰουδαῖος
It shares the Greek stem Ἰουδ- with Ἰούδα, extending the name into an identity.
Ioudaismos: The identity or practice associated with being Judean.
Ἰουδαϊσμός
It shares the same Ἰουδ- stem, showing how the personal name branches into a wider identity.
THE PATTERN
Genealogies make identity a chain of named relationships rather than a self-originating story.
This is the book of the births of Adam. In the day that God created the ground-being, in the likeness of God he made him.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
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now I will extend my hands to the LORD. Therefore she called his name Judah, Praise, and she stood from bearing.Genesis connects the name Judah with the speaker’s words, “Now will I praise the LORD.” That naming story lets the name Ἰούδα in this genealogy carry praise inside the chain of descent.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us