Matthew 1 presents Jesus’ genealogy as forty-two generations divided into three groups of fourteen.
The genealogy begins with Abraham and proceeds through David, the kings of Judah, the Babylonian exile, and Joseph, the husband of Mary. Matthew explicitly summarizes the list as three successive fourteen-generation periods.
This structure is theological as well as genealogical. David is especially important because Jesus is presented as belonging to David’s royal line, while the repeated pattern gives the opening chapter a memorable literary shape.
Readers should note that Matthew’s genealogy differs from Luke’s genealogy in several names and in its direction of presentation. The two lists are interpreted differently by Christian traditions and biblical scholars, so “forty-two” refers specifically to Matthew’s stated three groups of fourteen, not to every person named in the passage.