Losing students—and keeping the good ones.

John 6.66-71.

Growing up, I’ve heard many a Christian claim the worst verse in the bible was John 6.66. I suspect most of that is because of the address. Plenty of Christians are superstitious about the number 666, forgetting it’s only a hint of what the Beast’s name is; it’s not an inherently evil number. And there are much worse verses. But here’s how that verse goes:

John 6.66 KWL

Because of this,

many of Jesus’s students are going back,

and are no longer walking with him.

You remember a crowd came to Jesus hoping he’d give ’em free bread, and maybe overthrow the Romans, and instead he tells them he’s living bread who wants to save us, and expects our response to be a deep commitment—we gotta eat this living bread. And no, this isn’t actually about holy communion; Jesus is not making statements about how eating and drinking the communion elements literally work. He’s talking about abiding in him. Jn 15.4 About being one with him. About really following him.

He didn’t just weird out the crowd; this was too much for some of his own students. And if this freaks you out, Jesus pointed out, wait till you see Jesus get raptured.

Jesus had already pointed out the people didn’t trust him, Jn 6.36, 64 and the radical stuff he was saying—much of which affirms he’s actually God. It broke them. So they quit. They followed him no more.

Christian apologists love to point to this, and claim it’s part of the “trilemma,” John Duncan’s claim (which C.S. Lewis popularized; no, he didn’t invent it) that Jesus is either a fraud, self-deluded, or divine. Or, as Josh McDowell rephrased it, a liar, lunatic, or Lord. (Pagans typically choose a fourth option: Jesus never said any of these things, for overeager Christian fanboys made ’em up.) So the students who quit figured Jesus was either phony or crazy, and the students who stayed figured Jesus is Lord. In other words a good old-fashioned di-lemma: Jesus is either wrong, or right.

As for those who stayed:

John 6.67-71 KWL

67So Jesus tells the Twelve,

“You² don’t want to leave too?”

68Simon Peter answers Jesus,

“Master, to whom will we go?

You¹ have the sayings of life in the age to come,

69and we trusted you

and knew you¹ are God’s saint.”

70Jesus answers them, “Don’t I choose you² Twelve?

And among you is an accuser.”

71Jesus is saying this

of Judas bar Simon Iscariot,

for Judas is about to betray him,

despite being one of the Twelve.

Jesus goes too far for some of his students.

John 6.59-66.

The first time I heard this story, I thought, “Wait, some of Jesus’s students left him? I thought the Twelve always stayed with him.” And in fact John’s very next verses say the Twelve stuck with him. But somehow I had the idea Jesus only had the 12 followers. The fact he’d been teaching 5,000 followers in the beginning of this chapter, kinda skipped my notice; I didn’t think of these followers as students, but as fans. Fans love what you’re doing, and wear your merchandise, but you shouldn’t expect them on the training field with you. Same deal with “Christians” who love being Christian, and heartily approve of Jesus, but don’t obey him any, never plan to, and never produce good fruit.

And yeah, the people who followed Jesus to Capharnaum looking for him to give ’em more bread: A lot of them were nothing more than fans. Jesus starts talking about serious dedication with all his “living bread” talk, and they’re all, “Nope, I’m tapping out,” and the fans scatter. But apparently the living bread stuff was too much for some of his legitimate students, the ones he was teaching along with, and same as, the Twelve—the ones Jesus designated apostles. The ones we Christians usually call “disciples.”

In Acts, Luke identifies two of these students, who were nominated to take Judas Iscariot’s place in the Twelve after he died—Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. Ac 1.21-26 These two guys, among others, had been with Jesus from his baptism to his rapture. No doubt there were others who joined them along the way, who were just as much disciples as Matthew—both men and women, ’cause Jesus had no problem with women students like Mary the Magdalene. We really don’t know how large Jesus’s class was.

Here’s where it gets smaller.

John 6.59-66 KWL

59Jesus says these things

while teaching in the Capharnaum synagogue.

60Upon hearing it, many of Jesus’s students

therefore say, “This is an outrageous lesson.

Who can listen to it?”

61Having known within himself

his students are bellyaching about these things,

Jesus tells them, “This trips you² up?

62So what’ll you do when you² see

the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

63The Spirit is making you alive.

The body benefits no one.

The sayings I spoke to you²

are of the Spirit, and are life.

64But there are some of you²

who don’t trust me.”

For Jesus knew from the beginning

some are unbelievers,

and some will betray him.

65Jesus says, “This is why I told you this:

No one can come to me

unless the Spirit was given to them¹

by {my} Father.”

66Because of this,

many of Jesus’s students are going back,

and are no longer walking with him.

Wait, we gotta 𝘦𝘢𝘵 Jesus?

John 6.47-58.

Jesus is the living bread. It’s a metaphor for how we gotta commune with him. And in this passage, Jesus gets a bit graphic with the metaphor: The living bread is his body, and if we wanna abide in him, we gotta eat his body. The living drink—he doesn’t specify here whether this drink is living water, or the wine we use as part of our ritual of holy communion—is his blood, and if we wanna abide in him, we gotta drink his blood. (Since drinking blood is a no-no in the Law, Lv 17.10 that got their attention.)

This is where Jesus goes way too far with the Galileans who came to him hoping for free bread. They wanted Jesus to feed them like Moses (properly, the LORD) fed the Hebrews in the wilderness with manna. They didn’t expect him to make profound divine statements, and tell them if they wanted life in the age to come (KJV “eternal life,” because the coming age of the kingdom of God lasts forever) they’d have to eat and drink him.

And like I said, Jesus gets graphic. In verses 54, 56, and 58 he uses the word τρώγων/trógon, which doesn’t merely mean “eating,” like we see in a lot of bibles; it means chewing. Not necessarily loudly, but yeah, like livestock chews on its grain or cud. You gotta chew on the Son of Man. We’re meant to get the idea of rumination—or meditation. We’re meant to turn this food over and over in our mouths—or turn Jesus’s word over and over in our minds, and really work on abiding in Jesus.

Of course, since Jesus is talking about eating and drinking him, it immediately brings to mind the ritual of communion which Jesus introduced in his last supper. Mk 14.22-25, 1Co 11.23-26 Which is likely why bibles don’t translate trógon as “chewing,” but simply “eating.” You know how a lot of churches discourage us from chewing on the communion wafers, because they represent Jesus and they consider it disrespectful to chew Jesus? Yeah, Jesus doesn’t share their hangup. He says trógon. Which is why “chewing” is in my translation.

John 6.47-58 KWL

47“Amen amen! I promise you²

one who believes has life in the age to come.

48I’m the living bread.

49In the wilderness,

your² forefathers did eat manna,

and did die.

50This is the bread

which comes down from heaven,

so one might eat it,

and might not die:

51I’m the living bread

which comes down from heaven.

When anyone eats of this bread,

they¹ will live in the age to come.

Also, the bread which I will give you,

my body,

is for the life of the world.”

52So the Judeans are debating one another,

saying, “How can this man

give us his body to eat?”

53So Jesus tells them, “Amen amen! I promise you²

unless you² eat the body of the Son of Man,

and drink his blood,

you² don’t have life in you².

54One who chews on my body

and drinks my blood

has life in the age to come,

and I will resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.

55For my body is really food,

and my blood is really drink.

56One who chews on my body

and drinks my blood

abides in me,

and I in them¹.

57Just as the living Father sends me,

and I live because of the Father,

one who chews me—

that one will live because of me.

58This is the bread

which comes down from heaven.

It’s not like the forefathers did eat

and die;

One who chews on this bread

will live in the age to come.”

The living bread who comes from heaven.

John 6.41-46.

As I’ve said previously, there are a lot of Christians who incorrectly teach the reason Jesus’s teachings in John 6 made the Galileans freak out and stop following him, is because the teachings went over the Galileans’ heads. It’s a popular myth. It’s totally false though; the text of John 6 doesn’t support it. The Galileans understood Jesus perfectly, and that was their whole problem: Jesus is making radical divine statements about himself, which didn’t at all jibe with anything the Pharisees had ever taught ’em about the End Times. Jibes with the bible just fine, but not Pharisee teachings.

Jesus is telling them he’s living bread. He came down from heaven. He’s going to resurrect people on the Last Day. Pharisees had taught ’em God would resurrect everybody, not the Son of Man—because they had no idea the Son of Man is God, incarnate.

The Galileans were so thoroughly indoctrinated in what their rabbis had claimed, there was no room in their minds for anything Jesus claimed. They’d never heard anything like this before—even though plenty of it is found in the Prophets!—so they responded same as most humans do: Automatically presumed it’s wrong. And automatically presumed Jesus is nuts.

After all, isn’t Jesus a man like them? Isn’t he Galilean like them? Don’t they know his parents? How did the son of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth come down from heaven?

John 6.41-46 KWL

41So the Judeans are bellyaching about Jesus

because he’s saying, “I’m the bread which comes down from heaven.”

42They’re saying, “Isn’t this Jesus bar Joseph?

Haven’t we known his father and mother?

Now how does he say this—

‘I came down from heaven’?”

43Jesus replies, and tells them,

“Stop bellyaching with one another.

44No one can come to me

unless the Father my Sender attracts them¹,

and I will resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.

45It was written in the Prophets:

‘All of them² will be taught by God.’ Is 54.13

Everyone who listens to the Father, who learns,

comes to me.

46Not that anyone saw the Father

except the one who’s from God.

That one saw the Father.”

Again, the Galileans (whom John calls “Judeans” because they are; the Galilee was settled a century before by Judeans) are ἐγόγγυζον/egóngyzon, “complaining in a low tone; muttering” because they don’t like what Jesus is saying. They’re not loud about it, because John eventually reveals they’re in synagogue when Jesus says these things, Jn 6.59 but the bellyaching is making enough noise in Jesus’s class for their rabbi to overhear and rebuke.

He knows why they’re bellyaching too—and he doubles down.

The living bread wants to save us.

John 6.35-40.

You’re gonna find today’s passage translated a bit differently in other bibles. It’s because Jesus is using a lot of conditional verbs. Grammarians call this “the subjunctive mood,” and it refers to things which should happen, ought to happen; things which Jesus wants to happen. Since he sits at the Father’s right hand, he has the unlimited power to make ’em happen. But they might not happen.

Because they’re conditional. There’s a variable which first has to be met. It’s not Jesus; he wants all this stuff to happen. It’s us humans. We have to abide in Jesus. Jn 15.4 We have to come to him, to trust him, to follow him. If we don’t, the conditions aren’t met. Jesus might grant us eternal life—but if we don’t trust him, he might not.

So why do bible translators regularly render these verbs as unconditional; as if they will happen? Well, commentators and translators don’t say. All of ’em are just following custom. Other bibles translate ’em as unconditional, definitive statements, and so do they.

Going all the way back to the first bible translations. When the New Testament was translated into Latin, which has no subjunctive-form verbs—where you have to recognize these statements are conditional by their context, same as English—Jesus’s conditional statements weren’t translated into Latin as conditional statements.

Most of us have commonsense and basic reading skills, and recognize Jesus must be speaking only of the people who come to him. Jn 6.37 But—no surprise—there are always exceptions. Universalists will insist this is proof Jesus is gonna save everybody, even antichrists. Certain determinists will insist this is proof if the Father chooses us for salvation, his will is paramount and must prevail, and these people will come to Jesus, whether they want him or not. It’s a really iffy interpretation of this passage… but it’s mighty popular among some Christians who really want their pagan loved ones to be saved.

Well. Whether you can deduce the conditional nature of this passage or not, I decided to translate all the conditional verbs as conditional verbs, and make it nice ’n obvious. Here ya go.

John 6.35-40 KWL

35Jesus tells them, “I’m the living bread.

One who comes to me ought not hunger.

One who trusts in me ought not thirst.

36But I tell you² that you² also saw me—

and you² don’t trust me.

37Everyone the Father gives me

will come to me.

I ought never throw out

one who comes to me.

38For I came down from heaven

not so I might do my own will,

but my Sender’s will,

39and this {the Father} my Sender’s will:

That I might lose none of everything he gave me,

but I might resurrect it on the Last Day.

40For this is my Father’s will:

Everyone looking to the Son,

and trusting in him,

might have life in the age to come

and I might resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.”

As you can see, Jesus isn’t the variable. He wants to save us. He’s never unable, never unwilling; the whole reason he came into the world was to save it. Jn 3.17 But we humans were granted free will, which means we can misuse it and reject God’s salvation. He 2.3 And no small number of us will, for bitter or wrongheaded reasons, do so.

But the crowd doesn’t 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 living bread.

John 6.29-36.

To recap: The crowd of Galileans whom Jesus and his students fed literal bread were fixated on this literal bread. Plus the idea Jesus is the Prophet-Like-Moses who, according to Pharisees, would feed them literal bread during the End Times—but not so much that as the bread. (Hey, unlimited food is a big deal to a poor community!) Whereas Jesus told ’em to not seek bread; seek “the living bread,” i.e. him.

Well they didn’t want him. They wanted actual, literal bread. They wanted a thing, not a person. They wanted to fill their bellies, not to pursue a relationship with the Son of Man.

So the discussion with these Galileans deteriorated from there. I should point out John refers to them in this story as Ἰουδαῖοι/Yudéï, “Judeans,” and no, he’s not mixing up the province they’re in. The word means both “Judeans” and “Jews,” and of course they’re Jews—and they’re descended from Judeans. About a century before, some Judeans chose to go north—farther north than the province of Samaria—and re-settle any available territory which used to be part of the kingdom of northern Israel. This became the Galilee. They’re Galilean Jews, same as Jesus.

Anyway. In verse 29, which I’ll repeat today, Jesus tells ’em they have to trust the Son of Man, i.e. “that man he sends.” (Jesus likes to refers to himself in the third person, y’know. And it doesn’t confuse the Galileans at all; they respond to Jesus in verse 30 about trusting “you,” i.e. the man God sent. All my life I’ve heard Christians claim part of the reason the Galileans reacted to Jesus the way they did, was Jesus was somehow way too difficult for them to understand; that his metaphors went right over their heads. That’s not what the text shows at all. They were following Jesus’s train of thought just fine. Following him personally, however, they balked at. Free bread is one thing, but following Jesus? They didn’t wanna sign up for that.

I’ve also shared John 6 with pagans. And they understood it just fine as well. John didn’t write it in complex, hard-to-translate Greek; beginning Greek students can translate this no problem. Nope; it’s not at all about misunderstanding Jesus. It’s about understanding him—and then rejecting him.

John 6.29-36 KWL

29In reply Jesus tells them, “This is God’s work.

So you should trust in that man he sends.”

30So the crowd tells Jesus,

“So what sign do you¹ do

so we might see it

and might trust you¹?

What are you¹ doing?”

31Our forefathers ate manna in the wilderness,

just as it’s written,

‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Ps 78.24

32So Jesus tells them, “Amen amen!

I promise you Moses didn’t give you² bread from heaven.

But my Father gives you² true bread from heaven.

33For God’s bread is the one

who comes down from heaven,

and who gives life to the world.”

34So the crowd tells Jesus,

“Master, always give us this bread!”

35Jesus tells them, “I’m the living bread.

One who comes to me ought not hunger.

One who trusts in me ought not thirst.

36But I tell you² that you² also saw me—

and you² don’t trust me.”

Jesus himself, right there in verse 36, says so. They saw him. This crowd was right there when he and his kids fed 5,000-plus people. They know what he did; they know what he can do. But they don’t trust him enough to follow him any further. They only wanted bread. Same as any selfish, materialistic Christian who only follows Jesus for prosperity, political might, a mansion in heaven, social acceptance, to feel spiritual, to feel justified, or any of the other ulterior motives which cause people to embrace Christianity—but not Jesus.

Seek living bread!

John 6.26-29.

Jesus doesn’t tell a lot of parables in John. Some Christians claim he doesn’t tell any, but that’s not accurate. He doesn’t tell full parabolic stories; he uses one-liners. He talks to Nicodemus about wind; Jn 3.8 tells the Judeans about sheep in a pen, their shepherd, and thieves; Jn 10.1-6 talks about a grain of wheat that bears fruit when it dies. Jn 12.24 He uses metaphors and analogies throughout his lessons in John. In speaking about the bread of life, he constantly says “bread,” but you know he doesn’t literally mean bread. Or at least you should know this. Those with ears to hear, and all that.

The crowd of Galileans came to Jesus seeking literal bread. A few days ago, he fed ’em bread, and they were hoping for more. Lots, so they could regularly be full. An abundance of it; so they were seeking a wealth of this material. Do I have to spell it out any more? Fine: Material wealth. That’s all they wanted.

And a lot of Christians are the very same way. How many of us are hoping to make it to heaven so we can have a crown filled with jewels, and a mansion on one of the streets of gold?

Jesus instead wants us to have living bread. Which—spoilers—is Jesus himself. Jn 6.35

John 6.26-27 KWL

25In reply Jesus tells the crowd, “Amen amen!

I promise you² you² seek me,

not because you see miracles,

but because you² eat of the bread²

and are filled.

27Don’t work for perishable food,

but food which lasts for eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give to you²,

for Father God will seal this man.”

28So the crowd tell Jesus,

“What could we do,

that we could do God’s works?”

29In reply Jesus tells them, “This is God’s work.

So you should trust in that man he sends.”

Again, “that man he sends” is Jesus himself. Seek him. Not material wealth.

Jesus’s line “Don’t work for perishable food” is a similar idea to what he told the Samaritan about living water. Which likewise isn’t perishable, ’cause those who drink it will never thirst again. Jn 4.13-14 He’s offering us something eternal, and wants us to stop settling for the temporary and fleeting. Food and drink are really good examples of this. Here today, eaten tomorrow; and if not eaten it spoils. And of course you remember in the Sermon on the Mount when he teaches about treasures in heaven: Stop putting your trust in the perishable.

Since the imperishable “bread” Jesus speaks of in this chapter is himself, obviously he’s talking about our eternal relationship with him. “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jn 3.16 KJV

And of course this confused the Galileans completely, because they were fixated on literal bread. This bread metaphor still confuses Christians; just look at all the Catholic and Lutheran ideas about how literally communion bread represents Jesus, deduced from John 6—and this chapter isn’t even about holy communion! But y’know, those with ears to hear.

The not-so-living bread.

John 6.25-26.

The Galileans had come to the conclusion—maybe not in the right way, and certainly not with all the correct ideas, but nevertheless the correct conclusion—that Jesus is the Prophet-Like-Moses. As a result they were chasing him all over the lake. After all, Jesus had fed ’em bread, just like Moses fed the Hebrews manna. So he’s obviously the Prophet. And he’s gonna work with Messiah to overthrow the Romans, and all sorts of other End Times rubbish which Pharisees had been teaching them. But, y’know, free bread!

Anyway, they returned to Jesus’s home base of Capharnaum, and here he is! So… now what’s he gonna do? Hm? Hm?

John 6.25 KWL

Finding Jesus on the far side of the lake,

the crowd say, “Rabbi, when did you² get here?”

In John, Jesus doesn’t bother to answer their question. He does that sometimes. I suspect it’s because he knows their real question. It’s not the one they say out loud; it’s not the one they hypocritically try to pass off as real concern or real devotion. It’s the self-interested, self-seeking, selfish desires they have deep at the core of ’em. And lest you bash the ancient Israelis for doing this, we Christians all too often do the very same thing. Jesus sees right through us too.

So whenever Jesus’s answers look like non-sequiturs, they’re not really. Jesus responds to what people are thinking, not what they’re saying. Yep, he can read your mail. Any prophet can, and he’s the Prophet, remember?

John 6.26 KWL

In reply Jesus tells the crowd, “Amen amen!

I promise you² you² seek me,

not because you see miracles,

but because you² eat of the bread²

and are filled.”

In other words, they’re not coming to him because he’s the Prophet, and hears God, and can tell ’em what God wants them to hear. They’re not coming to him because of the miracles which indicate this is a guy to heed. They’re coming to him because he fed them. He gave ’em bread. Free bread! Unlimited free bread!

I mean, getting bread back then took work. You had to plant grain, wait a few months, harvest whatever grew, dry it, crush it to powder, mix this flour with water and add it to your starter, wait a day for the yeast to infest it, bake it on your clay oven, and then you could eat it. Jesus skipped every single one of these steps, and there was so much bread they had baskets of leftovers. Well, they want miracle bread. Do it again!

Okay, but… y’know, the guy hears God. (Infallibly hears God, unlike so many wannabe prophets nowadays.) Wouldn’t you wanna hear from God? Wouldn’t you like to have a deeper relationship with him? Wanna grow closer to your Father who loves you?

Nah; just the bread please.

It’s just like the “prosperity gospel.” They want all the treasures of heaven, but don’t want the Father. Don’t want God’s kingdom. They expect to go to heaven when they die, but never intend to make themselves suitable inhabitants for it; they figure that’ll somehow be magically done for them. They expect to love God then, rejoice to see their Father then, but don’t care to seek his face now. They just want material things and pleasant feelings now.

This was nothing new to Jesus. The Hebrews of Moses’s day were just the same way. The Israelis of David and Solomon’s day—same deal. Christians today—same same. People wanna feel justified and sanctified and “spiritual,” without actually obeying the Holy Spirit. ’Twas ever thus.

And Jesus has so much better for us in mind.

Tracking Jesus to Capharnaum.

John 6.22-24.

Previously in John 6, Jesus and his students feed 5,000 people, then Jesus dismisses the crowd and they cross the lake. The other gospels describe Jesus curing people in Khinnerót, but John skips that and has them simply find Jesus in his new hometown of Capharnaum.

John 6.22-24 KWL

22In the morning,

the crowd who stayed on that side of the lake

saw the other boat isn’t there—

the one boat Jesus entered with his students—

but only his students went away.

23But boats came from Tiberias

near the place where they ate bread,

when the Lord gave thanks.

24So when the crowd see Jesus isn’t there,

nor his students,

they enter the boats

and go to Capharnaum,

seeking Jesus.

25Finding Jesus on the far side of the lake,

the crowd say, “Rabbi, when did you¹ get here?”

Jesus’s response is to start teaching them about the bread of life. Which I’ll get to.

As I said in my piece on the 5,000 trying to crown Jesus, the people they fed had recognized Jesus is the “Prophet Like Moses” who, according to Pharisees, was gonna show up in the End Times, and help point the way to Messiah. This is why they were so very, very eager to follow Jesus: They were entirely sure the End was near, and Jesus was gonna help bring it about.

Yeah, they got lots wrong. Turns out the Prophet is Messiah. Pharisees weren’t as knowledgeable about the End Times as they’d have you think. Lots of today’s prognosticators are much the same way.

Jesus cures people in Khinnerót.

Mark 6.53-55, Matthew 14.34-36, John 6.22-24.

Sometimes I gotta remind people the authors of the gospels weren’t writing biographies of Jesus; they weren’t writing histories, though there’s plenty of historical stuff in there. They were writing gospels, a whole different genre of literature. They were declaring the kingdom of God, with Jesus as its king—and showing us why Jesus is its king, ’cause he merits it through what he taught and did.

So the gospels aren’t written in chronological order—though they will record Jesus’s birth or baptism first, and death and resurrection last. That’s why they won’t always line up. The synoptics often will because Matthew and Luke largely follow Mark’s order, but John often does its own thing.

This is why, after Jesus and Peter walk on water, the gospels go in different directions.

• Mark heads south to Khinnerót (KJV “Gennesaret”), a town about 8km from Capharnaum.
• Matthew goes along with Mark.
• John goes to Capharnaum.

Readers get their choice as to how to interpret this divergence. Some skeptics claim this is a flat-out contradiction: Jesus was either in Khinnerót or Capharnaum, and you don’t get to say, “Well, Capharnaum is close to Khinnerót”—nope; Jesus is either in one place or t’other, not both. Others point out this doesn’t need to be a contradiction—maybe Jesus landed in Khinnerót, then walked the 8 klicks to Capharnaum, and by the time people found him in John he was home.

Well anyway, let’s get to the gospels.

John 6.22-24 KWL

22In the morning,

the crowd who stayed on that side of the lake

saw the other boat isn’t there—

the one boat Jesus entered with his students—

but only his students went away.

23But boats came from Tiberias

near the place where they ate bread,

when the Lord gave thanks.

24So when the crowd see Jesus isn’t there,

nor his students,

they enter the boats

and go to Capharnaum,

seeking Jesus.

Meanwhile what’s Jesus been up to while the crowd is seeking him? This:

Mark 6.53-55 KWL

53Crossing over to the land,

they come to Khinnerót and moor.

54As they’re coming out of the boat,

Jesus is immediately recognized.

55People run round that whole region,

and begin to bring, on their beds,

those who have anything wrong with them

to wherever they hear Jesus is.

56Wherever Jesus enters,

into villages, cities, or countryside,

they’re laying the sick in the marketplaces,

and encouraging Jesus

that they might touch the tassel of his cloak—

and as many as touch him are cured.

Jesus and Peter walk on water.

Mark 6.46-52, Matthew 14.23-33, John 6.16-21.

After Jesus had his students feed 5,000-plus listeners, while he was handling the crowd who wanted to king him, he sent the kids to the far side of Lake Tiberias (i.e. “the Sea of Galilee,” though it’s not as big as a sea. The Great Lakes are way bigger.) So as Jesus left the crowd to go pray, the students rowed their way south. Wasn’t easy, ’cause the weather didn’t cooperate.

Mark 6.46-47 KWL

46 Saying goodbye,

Jesus goes off to a hill to pray.

47Later, the boat is in the middle of the lake,

and Jesus is alone on land.

Matthew 14.23-24 KWL

23Saying goodbye to the crowds,

Jesus goes up a hill by himself to pray.

Later he is alone there.

24The boat is already many stadia away from land,

tortured by the waves,

for the wind is against it.

John 6.16-18 KWL

16When it becomes later,

Jesus’s students go down to the lake,

17get into a boat,

and go to the far side of the lake, to Capharnaum.

It became dark,

and Jesus hasn’t yet come to them.

18The lake’s wind increased,

blowing greatly.

The title of this piece shoulda tipped you off what comes next: Jesus will walk to them on the surface of Lake Tiberias. You’ve heard the story before. Heck, everybody’s heard it before; walking on water is one of the most famous stunts Jesus ever pulled.

But not everybody knows it in context. Don’t know what happened before it; don’t know its consequences. In fact it didn’t really have any. It should have had a massive impact on the students—it’s meant after all to teach them the Holy Spirit makes the impossible doable. But like Mark points out at the end of the story, these kids were mighty dense.

The Five Thousand try to crown Jesus.

John 6.14-15.

Right after Jesus and his students feed the 5,000 in the Galilee, this happens:

John 6.14-15 KWL

14So the people,

seeing the sign Jesus does,

are saying this:

“Truly, this is the Prophet

who comes into the world!”

15So Jesus,

knowing they are about to come and seize him

so that they might make him king,

goes back again into a mountain,

alone by himself.

The synoptic gospels also tell this story, but Mark and Matthew end it thisaway:

Mark 6.45 KJV

And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.

Matthew 14.22 KJV

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

Mark and Matthew don’t say why Jesus ordered his students to “straightway” (Greek εὐθέως/efthéos, “quickly”) get into the boat, but John certainly fills in that blank: The crowds believed the miracle of feeding an entire town’s worth of people with one boy’s lunch Jn 6.9 was a σημεῖον/simíon, a sign from God. In their bible, the last time somebody miraculously fed a massive crowd with bread was when Moses ben Amram led the newly-freed Hebrews into the wilderness, and the LORD fed ’em manna. And didn’t Moses say this?—

Deuteronomy 18.15-19 KJV

15The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16according to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

The LORD goes on, describing a fake prophet in case anybody tries to pull a fast one on the Hebrews, Dt 18.20-22 and Christians really oughta memorize that passage, because many a fake prophet has successfully pulled some fast ones on us.

But even though people recognize (and are meant to recognize) the LORD is describing any prophet who steps up and says, “The LORD told me something,” Pharisees claimed this passage is also an End Times prophecy. At some point before the End, there’s gonna be a Prophet-Like-Moses who, just like Moses, is gonna rescue Israel from their enemies, take ’em back into the wilderness, and feed ’em manna.

Is Jesus this Prophet-Like-Moses? Yes he is. Simon Peter said so. Ac 3.20-26

Now, is he gonna do what Pharisees believed he’d do? Some of it. Definitely not all. Fr’instance he is gonna rescue Israel from its enemies… but he’s not taking Israel into the wilderness to feed ’em manna; there’s no need for that. Unless “feed them manna” is a metaphor for “teach them the word of God”—but again, there’s no need to take ’em into the wilderness for that.

In any event that’s the quandary Jesus now found himself in. Yes he’s the Prophet; no, he’s not gonna do that.

The Golden Rule.

Matthew 7.12, Luke 6.31.

The briefest form I’ve found of the “Golden Rule,” as it’s called, is probably C.S. Lewis’s “Do as you’d be done by.”

I grew up hearing it as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And this actually doesn’t come from the King James Version. The KJV has, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Lk 6.31 KJV I tried tracking down the other wording, and the earliest I’ve found it is 1790.

Here’s my translation of the two different ways Jesus taught it.

Matthew 7.12 KWL

“So, everything you² want people doing for you²,

you² do this for them.

That’s the Law and the Prophets in sum.”

Luke 6.31 KWL

“Same as you² want

that people might do for you²,

do likewise for them.”

It’s “the Law and the Prophets,” as Jesus put it—meaning the bible of his day, the Old Testament. (Yes the OT consists of Law, Prophets, and Writings; but Israelis understood “Prophets” meant all the ancient stuff written by legitimate prophets, which’d include the Writings. And since Sadducees and Samaritans insisted the bible only consists of the Law, it’s a reminder that’s not so.) The entire moral teaching of the scriptures can be distilled into this one concept: Do as you’d be done by.

Deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6.13.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus has us pray not to be led to temptation—properly, not put to the test, whether such tests tempt us or not. Instead, in contrast, we should pray we be delivered from evil.

Matthew 6.13 KJV

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The original text is ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ/allá rýsë imás apó tu ponirú, “but rescue us from the evil.”

The Greek tu is what grammarians call a determiner, although I’m pretty sure your English teachers called it a definite article, ’cause that’s what English determiners usually do: This noun is a particular noun. When you refer to “the bus,” you don’t mean a bus, any ol’ generic interchangeable bus. You mean the bus, this bus, a specific bus, a definite bus. So when people translate tu ponirú, they assume the Greek determiner is a definite article: Jesus is saying, “Rescue us from the evil.” Not evil in general; not all the evil we’ll come across in life. No no no. This is a definite evil. It’s the evil.

So they figure we gotta personify it, and that’s what many recent bible translations have chosen to do.

ASV. “…but deliver us from the evil one.”

CSB, ISV, LEB, NET, NIV, WEB. “…but deliver us from the evil one.”

GNT. “…but keep us safe from the Evil One.”

ICB, NCV. “…but save us from the Evil One.”

NLT, NRSV. “…but rescue us from the evil one.”

Of course Christians figure “the evil one” would be the evilest one, i.e. Satan. So that’s kinda how we interpret the Lord’s Prayer:

Matthew 6.13 Message

“Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

We even extrapolate this backwards into the bit about temptation: The reason we gotta ask not to be led into temptation, is because Satan wants us led there, so it can hack away at us. From time to time it’s probably appearing before God himself, asking permission to crap all over us like it did Job. Tempting God himself to remove his hedge of protection from us, and let Satan have its evil, evil way with us. And no, none of this is true. Jesus isn’t talking about Satan.

Jesus confuses Herod Antipas.

Luke 23.4-12.

All the gospels tell of Jesus’s suffering, but only in Luke do we find this bit about Jesus being sent to the Roman governor of the Galilee, “King” (but really tetrarch) Herod Antipas. The other gospel authors skipped it ’cause it didn’t add anything to their accounts. Doesn’t add much to Luke either. But it’s interesting.

It begins right after Pontius Pilate, Herod’s counterpart in Judea, was presented with Jesus for crucifixion. Pilate didn’t see any reason to crucify him, ’cause as John related, he figured Jesus’s kingdom wasn’t any political threat to Rome. (It did take over Rome just the same.) So Pilate didn’t feel like crucifying Jesus… and a loose comment the Judeans made, gave him the idea to hand off his inconvenient problem to Herod.

Luke 23.4-7 KWL

4Pilate tells the head priests and the crowd,

“I find nothing of guilt in this person.”

5The crowd prevails over Pilate, saying this:

“He riles up the people, teaching throughout Judea—

having begun such behavior in the Galilee.”

6On hearing this, Pilate asks whether Jesus is Galilean.

7Realizing Jesus is under Herod Antipas’s authority,

Pilate sends him to Herod;

Herod himself being in Jerusalem on that day.

Now let’s be clear. There was no rule in the Roman Empire which said if you had the subject of another province under arrest, you had to extradite him to that province’s governor. No custom either. In fact, knowing Romans, they wouldn’t wanna extradite their prisoners, lest it be considered a sign of weakness. So there were only two possible reasons for Pilate to send Jesus to Herod:

1. Passing the buck.
2. Making nice with Herod.

Because they hated one another, Lk 23.12 and we’re not told why.

Of course we can guess why: Herod Antipas figured he oughta be Judea’s king. His dad Herod 1 had overthrown King Antigonus Mattathias in 36BC, with Roman help, and taken over Israel; he was the eldest, and supposedly next in line to the throne, after his dad had executed his brothers Aristobulus and Alexander. Herod 1’s will had instead made Herod Archelaus king, so Antipas and his brother Philip appealed to Cæsar Augustus as the will’s executor. Cæsar double-crossed them, though: He overturned the will, then divided Israel into fourths, with Antipas as the ruler of one-fourth, and Cæsar himself as the ruler of Judea. Hence Antipas and Philip’s official titles were τετράρχης/tetrárhis, “ruler of a fourth.” Pilate was ruling over two-fourths of what Antipas figured he oughta be ruling.

Or maybe it was some other silly, petty reason. Whatever; they didn’t get along. But Herod had always wanted to meet Jesus, Lk 23.8 and if Pilate knew this, it was a significant gesture on his part. More likely, I’m guessing, Pilate stumbled into this gesture by a combination of dumb luck and procrastination.

Jesus confuses Pontius Pilate.

Mark 15.1-5, Matthew 27.1-2, 11-14, Luke 23.1-4, John 18.28-38.

After the Judean senate held their perfectly legal trial and sentenced Jesus to death, the Law instructed ’em to take Jesus outside the city, hurl him off a cliff, and throw stones down on his body till he was quite dead. But because the Romans had taken over Judea 27 years before, the Romans didn’t permit ’em to execute anyone. Only Romans were permitted the death penalty. So the Romans would have to kill Jesus for them.

This meant the Judean leaders had to convince Pontius Pilate, the Roman prætor—the military governor (Greek ἡγεμών/igemón, “ruler”) of Jerusalem—that it was in Rome’s best interests to execute Jesus. The prætor wasn’t just gonna execute anybody the Judeans recommended. Especially over stuff the Romans didn’t consider capital crimes, like blasphemy against a god the Romans didn’t understand, or honestly, respect. So what’d the Judeans have on Jesus?

Simple: He declared himself Messiah. Did it right in front of everybody.

Mark 14.61-64 NLT

61BThen the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62Jesus said, “I AM. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? 64You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”

Messiah (i.e. Christ) means “the anointed,” and since you only anointed kings, it straight-up means king. Jesus publicly declared himself Israel’s king. That, the Romans would consider treason: The king of Judea was Cæsar Tiberius Divi Augusti, princeps (“first citizen”) of Rome. Cæsar would have a vested interest in putting any antikings to death. So that was the charge the senate brought with them, and Jesus, to the Roman prætor.

The senators hauled Jesus to Antonia, a fort Herod 1 had built next to the temple (and named for his patron, Marcus Antonius) so soldiers could observe the Judeans in temple… just in case any riots broke out in there. The senators then presented their unrecognized true king to Pilate.

Mark 15.1 KWL

Next, in the morning, the head priests,

consulting with the elders, scribes, and the whole senate,

carry and deliver the bound Jesus

to Pontius Pilate.

Matthew 27.1-2 KWL

1As it became morning, all the head priests and people’s elders

gather in council regarding Jesus,

and how they’d put him to death.

2Binding him, they lead Jesus away

and hand him off to Pontius Pilate, the leader.

Luke 23.1-2 KWL

1Getting up, the crowd leads him to Pontius Pilate.

2They begin to accuse Jesus,

saying, “We find this man twisting our nation,

preventing taxes to be given to Cæsar,

calling himself ‘Christ’—which means king.”

In all the gospels, Pilate questioned Jesus… and came away unconvinced this man was any threat to Rome whatsoever. As Luke and John tell it, he didn’t even believe Jesus was guilty of anything. But the Judean senate wanted Jesus dead, and got plenty of the locals to say so too. In the end, Pontius pragmatically gave ’em what they wanted.

We gotta be better than “the righteous.”

Matthew 5.17-20, Luke 16.16-17.

Right after Jesus speaks on salt and light in his Sermon on the Mount, and tells his followers we need to be the world’s light, he says this about how we’re to live in order to be that salt and light: We gotta be righteous.

And by “righteous” Jesus does not mean we have to conform to popular Christian culture. We don’t have to be “righteous” the way conservative church people define righteousness. He doesn’t demand we act like they do, think like they do, dress like they do, vote like they do, or otherwise try to fit their standards. Jesus has a standard. What’s his standard? Well, the thinking and behavior he spells out in his Sermon on the Mount. He expects that of us. If the people of our churches are doing that—well they should, and good for them! But if the people of our churches are doing no such thing, and think they’ve found some other path to righteousness, like cheap grace or dispensationalism, I gotta warn you: Jesus doesn’t know them. And really it’s not safe to be among them. Leave, and join a better church.

If we wanna be righteous, we gotta trust Jesus. And Jesus says we gotta follow him. And—and here’s the part where you’re gonna see a lot of Evangelicals balk—we gotta also observe the Law of Moses. Certain commands still apply! Some don’t, because they only ever applied to ancient Hebrews. Some have clearly been superseded by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; the ritual cleanliness rules are an obvious example. But loving our neighbors or the Ten Commandments never stopped being valid; never stopped defining whether we’re right and wrong in God’s sight.

So if we wanna follow Jesus, we can’t be one of those Christians who think we’ve found a loophole which gets us out of obeying his commands and teachings in the scriptures. Israel’s scribes and Pharisees were notorious for their loopholes, and applied ’em so liberally Jesus couldn’t help but call them hypocrites, who pretended to be devout but were as pagan and evil as any Greek or Roman. Jesus expects way, way better of his students and followers.

His words, not mine!—

Matthew 5.17-20 KWL

17“None of you* should think

that I come to tear down the Law or the Prophets.

I don’t come to tear down,

but build up.

18For amen!—I promise you:*

Heaven and earth might pass away,

but neither one yodh nor one dot

ought ever pass away from the Law;

not until everything’s done.

19So whoever might annul the smallest of these commands,

and might teach this to people:

They will be called least in heaven’s kingdom.

And whoever might do and teach them,

this one will be called great in heaven’s kingdom.

20For I tell you* this:

Unless your* rightness superabounds—

more than scribes and Pharisees—

you* might not enter heaven’s kingdom.”

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth.

Luke 1.39-45.

Jesus comes from a family of prophets. Mary and Joseph heard from angels, same as Daniel. Mary’s relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah heard directly from the Holy Spirit, same as all the other prophets of the Old Testament. As did Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son, the prophet John the baptist.

And of course this is no coincidence. God wanted his Son raised by and among people who sought his will and listened to him. Imagine how much friction the boy Jesus would have to grow up with if this weren’t the case. There was already plenty, even with the Spirit’s activity in his family! Remember when they lost him in Jerusalem? Or when they saw him overworking himself, and thought he’d lost his marbles?

Thing is, whenever I point out this fact, Christians are regularly surprised. And either respond, “Oh… obviously God surrounded his Son with prophets!” or “Oh they’re not prophets; they just happened to have a one-time angelic appearance.” Or have three prophetic dreams, yet somehow that doesn’t qualify Joseph of Nazareth to be a prophet. even though one such dream qualified Daniel when he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Da 2

The problem is cessationism. Too many Christians think God completely stopped speaking through prophets between Malachi and John, and these “silent years” weren’t over till Gabriel started appearing to people. If you wanna get right down to it, they figure God stopped speaking when the Old Testament was complete, then started up again once he decided a New Testament needed to be written. It’s Darbyist dispensationalist rubbish. But it’s popular rubbish, and it warps popular bible interpretation.

As a result of cessationists’ false, faithless belief, popular Christian culture isn’t familiar with how prophecy works, and can’t recognize a prophet when they see ’em. So when Jesus’s family members do something prophetic, it goes right over their heads. It’s a miracle; they’ll admit to that at least. But prophecy has become a giant blind spot.

Fr’instance today’s passage: When Mary visits Elizabeth. Why’d she visit her? I kid you not: I’ve heard it preached, multiple times, Mary went to Elizabeth because she wanted to hide her pregnancy from the gossipy Nazareth women. ’Cause that’s what women used to do in our country when they got pregnant outside of wedlock: They were sent away to “visit relatives.” Then they came back with a new “baby sister” or “cousin.” (Or, if they aborted the baby, or let someone else adopt it, nothing.) This, they figure, is what Mary was doing: Hiding.

Was that how first-century Israeli culture worked? Nope! If people found out an unmarried couple were having sex (and pregnancy would definitely be one way they found it out), they had to marry, and they were forbidden to divorce. Dt 22.29 The man had to pay her dad a dowry; Ex 22.16-17 that made ’em married. It’s in the Law. Nobody has to visit relatives, or hide anything.

So why’d Mary visit Elizabeth? Because Gabriel gave her Elizabeth as confirmation of his prophecy.

Luke 1.36 KWL

“And look: Your relative Elizabeth

has conceived a son in her old age.

This is actually her sixth month—

and she was called sterile.”

Mary didn’t know this. Nobody knew this. Elizabeth secluded herself as soon as she found she was pregnant. Lk 1.24 But Elizabeth was the proof Mary’s pregnancy came from God.

I know; people claim Mary never doubted Gabriel, and totally believed him. But that’s not consistent with the scriptures. Why would Mary then rush to visit Elizabeth? Lk 1.39 Why wouldn’t she simply sit back at home, wait for the news that Elizabeth had—beyond all expectations—given birth, and bask in the knowledge she was gonna be the mother of Messiah?

Because of course Mary doubted. It’s a reasonable doubt! God hadn’t done anything like this before, and you know how often people insist God doesn’t do new things—even though he totally does. Mary needed certainty, and Elizabeth could give it to her. So off she went.

How Mary became Jesus’s mother.

Luke 1.26-38.

The Gospel of Luke begins with John the baptist’s annunciation, which Luke found kinda important because he wanted to tie John and Jesus’s ministries together. Not that they worked together, but they did both work for God, and John himself said his purpose was to point to Messiah, Jn 3.28 whom Jesus is.

Anyway right after John’s annunciation comes Jesus’s annunciation. And for that, we leave Judea and go to the Galilee, to a little town settled by Bethlehemites called Nazareth, to a young woman—likely in her teens, ’cause they married ’em off young in those days—named Miryam, in Latin “Maria,” in English “Mary.”

Luke 1.26-38 KWL

26In Elizabeth’s sixth month,

the angel Gabriel is sent by God

to a Galilean city called Nazareth,

27to a maiden betrothed

to a man of David’s house named Joseph;

the maiden’s name is Mary.

28Coming to her, Gabriel says, “Hello, your honor!

The Lord’s with you.

{You’re blessed above all women.}”

29Mary is alarmed by this message,

and speculates about what sort of greeting this is.

30The angel tells her, “Don’t fear, Mary:

You’ve found grace with God.

31Look, you’ll conceive in your womb.

You’ll give birth to a son. You’ll name him Jesus.

32He’ll be great. He’ll be called the Most High’s son.

The Lord will give him his ancestor David’s throne.

33He’ll be king over Jacob’s house in the age to come.

His kingdom will never end.”

34Mary tells the angel, “How will this happen?—

since I’ve not been with a man.”

35In reply the angel tells her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.

The Most High’s power will envelop you

and the holy one produced will be called God’s son.

36And look: Your relative Elizabeth

has conceived a son in her old age.

This is actually her sixth month—

and she was called sterile.

37 No word of God is impossible.”

38Mary says, “Look: I’m the Lord’s slave.

I hope it happens according to your word.”

The angel leaves her.

In Orthodox tradition, Mary was at the Nazareth well, so most Christian art depicts her there, with Gabriel either greeting her, or saying something profound as she looks downward in humility. Something pious, and posed—you know, like artist’s models will do.

Today, the well, and the cave it’s in, is underneath St. Gabriel’s Church in Nazareth. As our tour guide rightly pointed out, if it wasn’t the very place Gabriel appeared to Mary, it doesn’t entirely matter; Mary did go to this well to get water, since it’s Nazareth’s only natural water source. (As a city of 74,000 today, it’s had to tap a number of additional water sources.)

When the art doesn’t depict Mary at a well, it’s often of her at home. Sounds reasonable, ’cause Luke says Gabriel entered, and we usually figure that’d be a building. The Roman Catholics built a chapel, the Basilica of the Annunciation, over the cave where they think Mary’s family lived. Yep, another cave. Caves are all over Israel, and I remind you Jesus was both born in, and buried in, caves. Once again, western art gets it wrong: Mary’s family could hardly have afforded the Roman villas the art regularly depict her in. Nazareth wasn’t in Italy!

Jesus’s genealogy, in 𝘓𝘶𝘬𝘦.

Luke 3.23-38.

The second of Christ Jesus’s two different, contradictory-looking genealogies in the New Testament, is found in the gospel of Luke, right after Jesus’s baptism, right before Jesus’s temptation.

It’s an odd place to squeeze the genealogy in. Y’might notice 1 Chronicles begins with genealogy, and goes through it for whole chapters till it finally gets to Israeli history. Likewise Matthew begins with genealogy. But Luke likely tucked it here because Jesus had just been adopted—in the Roman sense of the Father formally declaring him his Son—so now Jesus’s ancestry comes into play.

And the Luke list goes back farther than Matthew. The other gospel only wanted to establish Jesus is King David ben Jesse’s heir, plus the spiritual heir (as well as literal descendant) of Abraham ben Terah. Those things would be important to Matthew’s readers, and because Matthew includes lots of biblical proof texts which Jesus fulfilled, most Christians assume Matthew was writing his gospel to Jews, who’d care about that stuff. Thing is, everybody cares about that stuff—if we care about the continuity between Old and New Testaments; if we care that Jesus is the legitimately prophesied Messiah. Yep, even gentiles care about the proof texts.

But Luke was likely writing to Romans like himself, and in ancient Roman culture, they didn’t care about whether you were descended from kings; Romans took pride in the fact they regularly overthrew kings. They cared about whether you were descended from gods.

And that is why Jesus’s genealogy in Luke goes all the way back. Luke is showing his readers Jesus wasn’t simply declared the Son of God by God himself; he’s a descendant of God. He has godhood in his bloodline.

Says so in his genealogy:

Luke 3.23-38 KWL

23Jesus himself is starting round his 30th year.

He’s legally the son of Joseph bar Ili—

24bar Maddát, bar Leví,

bar Malkhí, bar Yannaí, bar Joseph,

25bar Mattityáhu, bar Amos,

bar Nahum, bar Heslí, bar Naggaí,

26bar Mákhat, bar Mattityáhu,

bar Shimí, bar Yoshí, bar Yodáh,

27bar Yochanán, bar Reishá,

bar Zerubbabel, bar Shaltiél, bar Nerí,

28bar Malkhí, bar Adí,

bar Kosám, bar Elmadán, bar Er,

29bar Yeshúa, bar Eleázar,

bar Yorím, bar Mattát, bar Leví,

30bar Shimón, bar Judah,

bar Joseph, bar Jonám, bar Elyakím,

31bar Maláh, bar Manáh,

bar Mattatáh, bar Nathan, bar David,

32bar Jesse, bar Obed,

bar Boaz, bar Sheláh, bar Nakhshón,

33bar Amminadáv, bar Admín, bar Arní,

bar Hechrón, bar Pérech, bar Judah,

34bar Jacob, bar Isaac,

bar Abraham, bar Térakh, bar Nakhór,

35bar Serúg, bar Reú,

bar Péleg, bar Éver, bar Sheláh,

36bar Keïnán, bar Arfakhšád,

bar Shem, bar Noah, bar Lémekh,

37bar Metušelákh, bar Enoch,

bar Yéred, bar Mahalalél, bar Keïnán,

38bar Enósh, bar Šet,

bar Adam, bar God.