Genealogy Notes
Some people in the Bible appear only to connect a family line — a name in a list, with no story of their own. To keep the family tree readable, those names are left out of the graph. Wherever an omitted name links two figures we do show, a dashed amber Ancestor edge spans the gap, and you can follow the whole spine with the “Trace line of Jesus” button in the explorer.
This page lists those omitted names. The line of descent from Adam to Jesus is broken into the segments our Ancestor edges bridge; a note is included only where a name carries something worth telling.
Seth → Enoch
Genesis 5- EnoshGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Son of Seth; in his days 'people began to call on the name of the Lord.'
- KenanGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
- MahalalelGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
- JaredGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Father of Enoch, the man who 'walked with God.'
Methuselah → Noah
Genesis 5- LamechGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Father of Noah, whom he named hoping for 'comfort' from the curse on the ground (distinct from Cain's descendant Lamech).
Shem → Abraham
Genesis 11- ArphaxadGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Son of Shem, born two years after the flood.
- ShelahGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
- EberGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
His name is the likely root of the word 'Hebrew.'
- PelegGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Named Peleg ('division') because 'in his time the earth was divided.'
- ReuGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
- SerugGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
- NahorGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Grandfather of Abraham (Abraham also had a brother named Nahor).
- TerahGenesis · 1 Chronicles · Luke
Father of Abraham; he set out from Ur toward Canaan but settled in Harran.
Perez → Boaz
Ruth 4 / Matthew 1- HezronGenesis · Ruth · 1 Chronicles · Matthew · Luke
Grandson of Judah; went down to Egypt with Jacob's household.
- RamRuth · 1 Chronicles · Matthew · Luke
Called 'Aram' in the Greek of Matthew's genealogy.
- AmminadabExodus · Numbers · Ruth · Matthew · Luke
His daughter Elisheba married Aaron, the first high priest.
- NahshonExodus · Numbers · Ruth · Matthew · Luke
Leader of the tribe of Judah in the wilderness and first to bring an offering at the tabernacle's dedication.
- SalmonRuth · 1 Chronicles · Matthew · Luke
Husband of Rahab of Jericho and father of Boaz.
Jehoiachin → Zerubbabel
1 Chronicles 3 / Matthew 1- Shealtiel1 Chronicles · Ezra · Haggai · Matthew · Luke
Of the line of David through the Babylonian exile; named as the father of Zerubbabel in Ezra, Haggai and Matthew, while 1 Chronicles 3 lists Zerubbabel under Pedaiah.
Zerubbabel → Joseph (step-father)
Matthew 1- AbiudMatthew
- EliakimMatthew
- AzorMatthew
- ZadokMatthew
- AkimMatthew
- ElihudMatthew
- EleazarMatthew
- MatthanMatthew
- JacobMatthew
Father of Joseph the husband of Mary (distinct from the patriarch Jacob).
Two lines to Joseph
Matthew 1 / Luke 3Between David and Joseph the Gospels give two different lists. Matthew comes down through Solomon and the kings of Judah, 27 names in all. Luke goes back up through another son of David, Nathan, 42 names. The two part at David, both name Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, and meet again at Joseph.
Matthew 1:6–16through Solomon
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.Matthew 1:16 · KJV
Luke 3:23–31through Nathan
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,Luke 3:23 · KJV
A figure on the family treeNamed in both lists
How readers have explained it
- Two fathers, by levirate marriage. The oldest explanation on record comes from Julius Africanus in the third century. Jacob and Heli were half-brothers with the same mother. Heli died childless, Jacob married his widow, and Joseph was Jacob’s son by birth and Heli’s by law.
- Luke gives Mary’s line. A later reading, widely held since the sixteenth century, takes Luke’s list as the family of Mary, with Joseph counted as Heli’s son by marriage. It starts from the wording of Luke 3:23, quoted above.
- A royal line and a family line. On this reading Matthew lists the heirs to David’s throne, king after king, and Luke lists Joseph’s own forefathers.
Neither Gospel says how its list relates to the other. Sacred Lineage draws Matthew’s line, because its kings are figures on the map, and lets you read the same stretch by Luke.
Larger genealogies
by bookLuke traces a second, different line from David to Joseph (through David's son Nathan rather than Solomon). These names appear only in that genealogy.
Nathan (son of David) · Mattatha · Menna · Melea · Eliakim · Jonam · Joseph · Judah · Simeon · Levi · Matthat · Jorim · Eliezer · Joshua · Er · Elmadam · Cosam · Addi · Melki · Neri · Rhesa · Joanan · Joda · Josek · Semein · Mattathias · Maath · Naggai · Esli · Nahum · Amos · Mattathias · Joseph · Jannai · Melki · Levi · Matthat · Heli (father of Joseph)
Chapters 1–9 are an extended tribal register — hundreds of names listed only to record descent. The figures with their own stories elsewhere appear in the graph; the remainder are omitted.
The 'Table of Nations' in Genesis 10 names roughly seventy descendants of Noah's sons as the ancestors of peoples and lands rather than as individuals with narratives.
Want to see how these connect? Open the family tree and click “Trace line of Jesus.”