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Genealogy
Excerpt from the Lexham Bible Dictionary, the most advanced Bible dictionary.
An account of the ancestry of an individual or group or of the descendants of an individual.
Lexham Bible Dictionary
The most advanced Bible Dictionary
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Dictionaries
The Lexham Bible Dictionary
Genealogy
Genealogy An account of the ancestry of an individual or group or of the descendants of an individual.
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
Genealogy, Genealogies
GENEALOGY, GENEALOGIES. Genealogies are records of a person’s or a group’s descent from an ancestor or ancestors. Outside of Israel, genealogies appear only rarely in ancient Near Eastern literature and are attested primarily in Mesopotamian king lists and in 2d-millennium texts dealing with the political
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible
Genealogy
Genealogy. Record or study of descent involving a tracing backward or forward of the ancestry of a nation, tribe, family, or individual. The Hebrews were not the only people in the ancient world to take an interest in maintaining genealogical records. The Sumerian king list of the 3rd millennium bc.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised
Genealogy
Genealogy jē-neā̈lʹə-jē [Heb. yaḥaś; tôlēḏôṯ; Gk. genealogía]. A record or catalog of an individual’s descent from ancestors according to generations. Whereas in modern genealogical records the lines of descent are traced generation by generation, in the ancient Near East it was not uncommon
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
Genealogy
GENEALOGY Record or study of descent involving a tracing backward or forward of the ancestry of a nation, tribe, family, or individual. The Hebrews were not the only people in the ancient world to take an interest in maintaining genealogical records. The Sumerian king list of the third millennium bc
The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated)
Genealogy
genealogy. The Hebrew Bible contains contains about two dozen genealogical lists. The first is at Gen. 4:17–22 (from Cain through seven generations). Other prominent lists are the generations from Adam to Noah (Gen. 5:1–32), the descendants of Noah (10:1–32), the generations from Shem to Abraham (11:10–26),
The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia
Genealogy
GENEALOGYDefinitionThe Heb. word genealogy, yaḥaś, occurs only once as a noun in the OT in the phrase “book of the genealogy” (Neh 7:5, ASV) where it is introducing a list of exiles returning to Jerusalem from Babylon. The verb yāḥaś, “to register,” is always in the causative (hithpael) form and
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible
Genealogy
GenealogyA record of an individual’s or clan’s descent from a putative ancestor(s). Genealogies (Heb. tôlēḏôṯ, “generations”) function as an important medium of expression and interaction. Once taken at face value, biblical genealogies have come under scrutiny by critics who have recognized “apparent
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary
Genealogy
Genealogy (Heb. tôlēḏôṯ; Gk. genealogía).† An account of the descent of a person, family, or larger social group.As demonstrated by anthropological research, the biblical genealogies represent two major types: linear, a vertical form tracing a single line of descent from a living person
Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
Genealogy
GenealogyA genealogy is the record of a person’s ancestral descent. While the word itself is not found in the Gospels (cf. 1 Tim 1:4; Tit 3:9; Heb 7:6), the only extended examples of genealogies in the NT are in Matthew and Luke and trace the ancestry of Jesus.As Matthew’s and Luke’s infancy narratives
Catholic Bible Dictionary
Genealogy
GENEALOGY A tracing of the ancestry or descent of a person. The Old Testament is replete with genealogies (e.g., in Genesis, Numbers, 1 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ruth). Genesis is concerned especially with tracing the ancestry of Israel through history back to Adam, in particular the line from
Key passages
Ge 10:1–32

These are the generations of the sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Children were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. …

Ex 6:14–26

These are the heads of their families. The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, are Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben. And the sons of Simeon are Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jakin and Zohar and Shaul the son of the Canaanitess. …

Mt 1:1–17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, …

1 Ti 1:4

and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause useless speculations rather than God’s plan that is by faith.

See also
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