How the King James Matthew Genealogy is Incorrect

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013.

The Gospel of Matthew tells of the birth of Jesus, and has a genealogy for him.  But that genealogy in the King James Version of the Bible, book of Matthew, is incorrect.  I am sure that the scholars that King James of England put on the job intended to get it right.  But they were a little off.  

The King James Version came out in England in 1611, so it's been around for four centuries.  It is a best-selling version of the Bible.  But I'll give you here a more accurate genealogy than the KJV Matthew genealogy.    

As a younger man, I tried more than once to understand the 14, 14, and 14 generations in the Matthew genealogy in the King James.  It never did add up right for me.  

One thing that might have been an influence is the difference in names in the Greek language from the equivalent name in the Hebrew language.  

The translators of the KJV New Testament were no doubt working from the Greek scriptures that they must have had.  

The translators of the KJV Old Testament were no doubt working from the Hebrew scriptures that they must have had.  

We see several examples of name differences within the KJV.  The Old Testament names, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Noah were changed to Elias, Eliseus, Esias, and Noe in the KJV New Testament, simply because, I expect, the translators of the KJV New Testament were working from the Greek scriptures that already had the Greek form of the O.T. Hebrew names.    

Some parts of the United States have many Hispanics.  Juan in Spanish is the equivalent of John in English.  Likewise with Guillermo and William.  And Pedro with Peter.  And Federico with Frederick.    

In the Korean language, the first four books of the New Testament are Mata, Maga, Nooga, and Yuan, spelled here phonetically.  Korean, of course, has its own oriental-looking alphabet.      

It is not surprising that some of the Hebrew names are different in Greek, but I think it would have been better to use the Old Testament name in the KJV New Testament in every case where there was an Old Testament predecessor.  

That is what I've tried to do as Editor of the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, which is available at www.Amazon.com as an ebook for the Kindle reader (or IPAD or laptop with Kindle app).   

I went back to the Old Testament to research the Matthew genealogy, and found that the genealogy in Matthew in the King James was incorrect according to genealogies in the Old Testament.  

Some names in the New Testament may have no Old Testament equivalents.   I'm not aware of an Old Testament equivalent for the Apostle Paul's buddy Timotheus, whom we call Timothy, to whom Paul wrote two letters in the New Testament.   

As you may be aware, there is also a genealogy in the book of Luke in the Bible.  The Matthew and the Luke genealogies are not the same.  

But if you follow them back, both genealogies descend from King David, and are the same prior to King David, except that the Luke genealogy goes back all the way to Adam, while the Matt genealogy only goes back to Abraham.  The book of Genesis will get us from Adam to Abraham.  David had many sons, two of whom were Solomon and Nathan.     

The Matthew genealogy takes you right down, from father to son, to Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matt 1:16)  

The Matthew genealogy comes through Solomon, not Nathan.  The Luke genealogy comes through Nathan, not Solomon.  

Bible scholars believe that the Luke genealogy is Mary's genealogy, while the Matthew genealogy is Joseph's genealogy.  

Of course, Joseph, husband of Mary, had no biological connection with Jesus, since Joseph was only Jesus’ step-father.  

I believe God included Joseph's genealogy in in the Bible to help persuade Jews.    

Jesus' Father is God.  Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16)

But when did that begetting take place, about two thousand years ago?  No, because Jesus was present with God his Father at the creation of the world.  

What happened two thousand years ago was that it was finally God's time to send the Messiah to the world, so the spirit of God made the virgin Mary pregnant with God's son, Jesus.  

The majority of Jews today do not accept Jesus as their prophesied Messiah, or Savior.  

Probably the main reason for this is that the Jews were expecting the Messiah to set up an earthly kingdom.  But Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world."  

So, the Jews are still looking for a Messiah.  They will find a counterfeit Messiah called the Antichrist, who is also called the Beast by the Prophet Daniel.  

I was traveling by train not long ago.  I went to the dining car for a meal.  Across the table from me sat a Jewish couple.  During the conversation, I reminded them that Moses told his people, the Jews, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you like me.  Listen to him about everything." (Deut 18:15)  

I told them that Jesus is that prophet.  The Jewish couple didn't appreciate hearing that.  They don't buy that Jesus is the Messiah.  

O.K., but Jesus is the Messiah, anyway, whether people believe it or not.  What a shame for the Messiah to come, and people don't recognize him as the Messiah.  

But many do know that Jesus is the Messiah, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, James, millions of Gentiles, and the members of the "Jews for Jesus" organization.  

This matter is somewhat complicated by the fact that some of the fathers in the genealogy were called by more than one name.  But I’ll walk through it with you.  

Here is the KJV Matt genealogy:
1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
1:4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
1:5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
1:6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
1:7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
1:8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
1:9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
1:10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
1:11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
1:12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
1:13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
1:14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
1:15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.  

Here is the Hoehn Version Matt genealogy:
___Matthew chapter 1 
 1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
 2 Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,
 3 And Judah fathered Pharez and Zarah from Tamar, and Pharez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram,
 4 And Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon,
 5 And Salmon fathered Boaz from Rahab, and Boaz fathered Obed from Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse,
 6 And Jesse fathered David the king, and David the king fathered Solomon from her that had been the wife of Uriah,
 7 And Solomon fathered Rehoboam, and Rehoboam fathered Abijam, and Abijam fathered Asa,
 8 And Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat fathered Jehoram, and Jehoram fathered Ahaziah,
 9 And Ahaziah fathered Joash, and Joash fathered Amaziah, and Amaziah fathered Azariah, and Azariah fathered Jotham, and Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
 10 And Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, and Manasseh fathered Amon, and Amon fathered Josiah,
 11 And Josiah fathered Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim fathered Jechoniah and his brothers, about the time they were carried away to Babylon,
 12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechoniah fathered Salathiel, and Salathiel fathered Zorobabel,
 13 And Zorobabel fathered Abiud, and Abiud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor,
 14 And Azor fathered Sadoc, and Sadoc fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud,
 15 And Eliud fathered Eleazar, and Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob,
 16 And Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are about fourteen generations, and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are about fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon to Christ are about fourteen generations.

A comparison of the KJV Matt genealogy and the Hoehn Version Matt genealogy shows that the two of them use different spellings of those proper nouns.  But the Hoehn Version came along four hundred years after the KJV.  So why would Hoehn use different spellings than the KJV?

That's because Hoehn went back to the Old Testament genealogies and used those spellings.  

The Bible says, "Don't remove the ancient landmark that your fathers have set." (Prov 22:28)  In my opinion, it tends to cause confusion to call people by different names in the New Testament than they were called in the Old Testament.  And "God is not the author of confusion." (1 Cor 14:33)

A comparison of the two genealogies also shows that the Hoehn version takes more generations from Abraham to Jesus than the KJV.  Again, because Hoehn went back to the Old Testament genealogies.  

THIS IS A MORE SERIOUS DIFFERENCE THAN SOME SPELLING DIFFERENCES.  FOUR GENERATIONS SEEM TO BE MISSING FROM THE KJV.    

If we count the names from Abraham to Joseph, including Abraham and Joseph, husband of Mary, we get forty in the KJV, but forty four in the Hoehn Version.  Both can't be right.  Someone is wrong.    

The area of discrepancy is after Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram (called Joram in KJV).  

But then, when you get down to Jechoniah (Jeconias in KJV), from Jechoniah onward, the genealogies agree, except for spelling differences.  

Take a look at 1 Chron 3:10 through vs. 17.  This gets us from Solomon down through Salathiel, ninteen names, including Solomon and Salathiel.  

But in the KJV, there are only fifteen names from Solomon through Salathiel, including Solomon and Salathiel.  

Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, is also called Joram.  Rehoboam's son, Abijam, is also called Abia.  King Josiah's son, Eliakim was changed to Jehoiakim by the conquering king of Egypt. (2 Chron 36:4)