What Does Matthew 1:4 Mean?
Ram brought forth Amminadab, and Amminadab brought forth Nahshon, and Nahshon brought forth Salmon.
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 Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;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.
“brought forth” 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 one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.And Amminadab brought forth Nahshon, and Nahshon brought forth Salmon.Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.THE THREAD
Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a 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.”
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