About Genesis → Jesus
From Adam to Jesus — the Bible's family tree, in one place
Genesis → Jesus is a free interactive Bible study tool that traces a single, unbroken family line from the first man in the garden to the Messiah in the manger. This page gathers both halves of that story — the long Old Testament line from Adam to Jesus, and the New Testament genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke — into one guide you can read end-to-end.
Part I — From Adam to Jesus
From the first man in the garden to the Messiah in the manger, the Bible tells the story of one unbroken family line — the line through which God promised to bring blessing to every nation.
From Adam to Noah
The line begins in Genesis 5 with Adam and his son Seth — not Cain — and runs through Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch (who walked with God), Methuselah, and Lamech to Noah. These ten patriarchs span the antediluvian world, and through Noah and his three sons the line survives the Flood.
From Noah to Abraham
After the Flood the family tree narrows through Shem — the son through whom God's covenant purposes will flow. Ten more generations carry the line from Shem through Arphaxad, Eber, and Peleg to Terah, the father of Abraham. With Abraham, the promise becomes explicit: "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
From Abraham to David
Abraham's promised son Isaac fathers Jacob, who is renamed Israel, and Jacob's twelve sons become the tribes of Israel. The Messianic line passes through Judah — "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah" (Genesis 49:10) — then through Perez, Boaz and Ruth, to Jesse, and finally to David, the shepherd-king. To David God makes the further promise that his throne will endure forever.
From David to the exile
From David the line runs through Solomon and the kings of Judah — Rehoboam, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others — until Babylon ends the monarchy and carries the people into exile. Even there the line is preserved, kept alive in figures like Jeconiah and Shealtiel so that God's promise to David is not broken.
From the exile to Jesus
After the return from Babylon the line continues in relative obscurity through Zerubbabel, who rebuilds the Temple, and down through generations the Old Testament barely names. Then, in the fullness of time, the line reaches Joseph of Nazareth and his betrothed Mary — and Jesus is born in Bethlehem, the city of David, the long-awaited son of Abraham and son of David.
Part II — The Genealogy of Jesus
The genealogy of Jesus is recorded in two places in the New Testament: Matthew 1:1–17 and Luke 3:23–38. Both accounts establish that Jesus is the long-promised heir of Abraham and the rightful Son of David — the Messiah through whom God's covenant promises are fulfilled.
Matthew's account: King of the Jews
Matthew opens his gospel with a deliberate, royal genealogy: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." He arranges the line into three sets of fourteen generations — Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian exile, and the exile to the Christ — emphasising Jesus' legal right to the throne of David through Joseph. Notably, Matthew includes four women in the line: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba — a quiet signal that grace has always reached beyond the expected boundaries.
Luke's account: Son of Adam, Son of God
Luke traces the line in reverse, beginning with Jesus and moving back through David, Abraham, Noah, and all the way to "Adam, the son of God." Where Matthew anchors Jesus in Israel's royal hope, Luke anchors Him in humanity itself — the second Adam, come to undo the fall and to be the saviour of every nation.
The Messianic line, generation by generation
The thread runs from Adam through Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah; then through Boaz and Ruth to David; through the kings of Judah to the exile; and finally through the post-exilic line to Joseph the husband of Mary. Each generation carries the promise forward — sometimes through prominent figures, often through obscure names — until "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).
Explore the full tree
The interactive Bible family tree on Genesis → Jesus lets you trace every step of the genealogy from Adam to Jesus, with a synced timeline, scripture citations on every figure, and educator guides for the major patriarchs and kings. Use the search to jump to any name, or follow the highlighted Messianic line to see how God kept His promise through forty-two generations.