The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.23 I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made.24 The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out:25 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth:26 He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.27 When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths:28 When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:29 When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth;30 I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;31 Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.32 Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways.33 Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.35 He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord:
And now I shall again recite the words which I have spoken in proof of this point. When Scripture says, "The Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven," the prophetic word indicates that there were two in number: One upon the earth, who, it says, descended to behold the cry of Sodom; Another in heaven, who also is Lord of the Lord on earth, as He is Father and God; the cause of His power and of His being Lord and God. Again, when the Scripture records that God said in the beginning, "Behold, Adam has become like one of Us," this phrase, "like one of Us," is also indicative of number; and the words do not admit of a figurative meaning, as the sophists endeavour to affix on them, who are able neither to tell nor to understand the truth. And it is written in the book of Wisdom: "If I should tell you daily events, I would be mindful to enumerate them from the beginning. The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He formed the earth, and before He made the depths, and before the springs of waters came forth, before the mountains were settled; He begets me before all the hills." When I repeated these words, I added: "You perceive, my hearers, if you bestow attention, that the Scripture has declared that this Offspring was begotten by the Father before all things created; and that which is begotten is numerically distinct from that which begets, any one will admit."
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:†2 Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judas and his brethren.†3 And Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares begot Esron. And Esron begot Aram.4 And Aram begot Aminadab. And Aminadab begot Naasson. And Naasson begot Salmon.5 And Salmon begot Booz of Rahab. And Booz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse.6 And Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias.7 And Solomon begot Roboam. And Roboam begot Abia. And Abia begot Asa.8 And Asa begot Josaphat. And Josaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Ozias.9 And Ozias begot Joatham. And Joatham begot Achaz. And Achaz begot Ezechias.10 And Ezechias begot Manasses. And Manesses begot Amon. And Amon begot Josias.11 And Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon.12 And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel. And Salathiel begot Zorobabel.13 And Zorobabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliacim. And Eliacim begot Azor.14 And Azor begot Sadoc. And Sadoc begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud.15 And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Mathan. And Mathan begot Jacob.16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.†
(Hist. Eccles. 1.7.) For Matthan and Melchi at different periods had each a son by one and the same wife Jesca. Matthan, who traced through Solomon, first had her, and died leaving one son, Jacob by name. As the Law forbade not a widow, either dismissed from her husband, or after the death of her husband, to be married to another, so Melchi, who traced through Matthan, being of the same tribe but of another race, took this widow to his wife, and begat Heli his son. Thus shall we find Jacob and Heli, though of a different race, yet by the same mother, to have been brethren. One of whom, namely Jacob, after Heli his brother was deceased without issue, married his wife, and begat on her the third, Joseph, by nature indeed and reason his own son; whereupon also it is written, And Jacob begat Joseph. But by the Law, he was the son of Heli; for Jacob, being his brother, raised up seed to him. Thus the genealogy, both as recited by Matthew, and by Luke, stands right and true; Matthew saying, And Jacob begot Joseph; Luke saying, Which was the son, as it was supposed, (for he adds this withal,) of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Melchi. Nor could he have more significantly or properly expressed that way of generation according to the Law, which was made by a certain adoption that had respect to the dead, carefully leaving out the word begetting throughout even to the end.
(ubi sup.) Neither does this lack good authority; nor has it been suddenly devised by us for this purpose. For the kinsmen of our Saviour according to the flesh, either out of desire to shew forth this their so great nobility of stock, or simply for the truth’s sake, have delivered it unto us.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)