What Does Matthew 1:3 Mean?
Judah brought forth Perez and Zerah out of Tamar, and Perez brought forth Hezron, and Hezron brought forth Ram.
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
And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;THE KEY
The repeated “begat” carries a child named “Breach” forward as part of the lineage, so rupture itself sits inside the chain of bringing forth.
THE MEANING
Your life arrives through a chain of lives and carries names and histories forward. Here, the name meaning “breach” remains in the line as the next generation is brought forth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a life marked by a breach cannot belong inside a continuing family story.
THE ROOT
ἐγέννησεν
egennēsen
GROWS FROM
γεν
birth, generation, bringing forth
“brought forth” in this verse is egennēsen. The verb ἐγέννησεν (egennēsen, “begat”) repeats three times, turning the names into a sequence of bringing forth. The γεν- (gen-, “birth, generation”) family connects this verse to Matthew’s opening “generation,” framing the lineage as an unfolding process.
ALSO GROWS
gennēsis: birth, origin
γέννησις
It makes explicit the birth and origin carried by the repeated act of begetting.
genea: generation
γενεά
It names the continuing span of people that this verse traces.
genos: family, lineage, kind
γένος
It shows how bringing forth links individual names into a family line.
פֶּרֶץ
perets
GROWS FROM
פרץ
break through; make a breach
The Hebrew name behind KJV Phares is פֶּרֶץ (perets, “breach”), from פָּרַץ (parats, “break through”). Genesis 38:29 makes the connection visible when Tamar says, “How hast thou broken forth?”; here that breach-name stands within a continuing genealogy.
ALSO GROWS
parats: break through; burst forth
פָּרַץ
The verb gives the name its image of breaking through into birth.
peritsah: breach; breaking through
פְּרִיצָה
This related noun keeps the idea of a breach visible in the name carried forward by the lineage.
THE PATTERN
A family line can carry a breach within its record and still continue through generation after generation.
And it came to be, as he drew back his hand, and behold, his brother came out, and she said, How have you broken through? Let this breach be upon you. Therefore his name was called Pharez, the breach.Now these are the births of Perez. Perez brought forth Hezron.The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.THE THREAD
The book of the origin of Jesus, the anointed one, son of David, son of Abraham.The heading uses γενέσεως (geneseōs, “generation, origin”), from the same γεν- (gen-, “birth, generation”) family as ἐγέννησεν (egennēsen, “begat”) here. The heading’s broad claim of a generation unfolds in this verse as a sequence of named lives brought forth.
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