{Begat} (egenn(8873)en). This word comes, like some of the
early chapters of Genesis, with regularity through verse 16,
until the birth of Jesus is reached when there is a sudden
change. The word itself does not always mean immediate parentage,
but merely direct descent. In verse  16  we have "Joseph the
husband of Mary, from whom was begotten Jesus who is called
Christ" (	on I(9373)(8870)h ton andra Marias ex h(8873) egenn(8874)h(8820)I(8873)ous ho
legomenos Christos). The article occurs here each time with the
object of "begat," but not with the subject of the verb to
distinguish sharply the proper names. In the case of David the
King ( 1:6 ) and Joseph the husband of Mary ( 1:16 ) the article
is repeated. The mention of the brethren of Judah ( 1:2 ) and of
both Phares and Zara ( 1:3 ) may show that Matthew was not
copying a family pedigree but making his own table. All the Greek
manuscripts give verse  16  as above save the Ferrar Group of
minuscules which are supported by the Sinaitic Syriac Version.
Because of this fact Von Soden, whose text Moffatt translates,
deliberately prints his text "_Jacob begat Jesus_" (I(9373)(8870)h de
egenn(8873)en I(8873)oun). But the Sinaitic Syriac gives the Virgin
Birth of Jesus in Mt  1:18-25 . Hence it is clear that "begat"
here in  1:16  must merely mean line of descent or the text has
been tampered with in order to get rid of the Virgin Birth idea,
but it was left untouched in  1:18-25 . I have a full discussion
of the problem in chapter XIV of _Studies in the Text of the New
Testament_. The evidence as it now stands does not justify
changing the text of the Greek uncials to suit the Sinaitic
Syriac. The Virgin Birth of Jesus remains in  1:16 . The spelling
of these Hebrew names in English is usually according to the
Hebrew form, not the Greek. In the Greek itself the Hebrew
spelling is often observed in violation of the Greek rules for
the ending of words with no consonants save _n,r,s_. But the list
is not spelled consistently in the Greek, now like the Hebrew as
in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, now like the Greek as in Judah,
Solomon, Hezekiah, though the Hebrew style prevails.