Matthew 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It contains two distinct sections. The first lists the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to his legal father Joseph, husband of Mary, his mother. The second part, beginning at verse 18, provides an account of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 25 verses. Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: in Koine Greek Codex Vaticanus (~325–350; complete) Codex Sinaiticus (~330–360; complete) Codex Washingtonianus (~400) Codex Bezae (~400; extant verses 21–34) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 3-34) in Syriac Curetonian Gospels (2nd/5th century) Syriac Sinaiticus (4th/5th century) Peshitta (5th century) The genealogy Matthew 1:1-17 Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus, set out in three stages each of 14 generations: from Abraham to David, from David to the Babylonian exile and thence to Jesus' legal father Joseph, the husband of Mary his mother. The list opens and closes with a significant title for Jesus as "Jesus Christ" (1:1, 1:18; rarely used in the Gospel of Matthew). The opening words of the gospel show that it is written by a Jew for Jewish readers. The genealogy demonstrates that Jesus comes from the seed of Abraham and belongs to the House of David, and thus is their heir. The Gospel also asserts Jesus is, in fact, the Son of God, and Joseph is, thus, not actually Jesus' father. Legally, however, Joseph is Jesus' father and some scholars contend legal parentage is of the most importance. Ra McLaughlin argues that the central event in this passage is actually the adoption of Jesus by Joseph (signified by his naming of the child), which alone makes Jesus eligible to be the messiah from the line of David. The section begins with Abraham, who is traditionally regarded as the ancestor of all the families of the Earth. It then runs through the prominent Old Testament figures of Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. The passage also references Judah's brothers who have no actual place in the genealogy. Gundry contends they are included because the author of Matthew is trying to portray the people of God as a brotherhood. There are several problems with the genealogies. The list here is significantly different from that found in Luke 3, where the list from the Babylonian captivity