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the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Luke 3:38 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
  • KJV Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
  • NKJV the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
  • NASB the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
  • NLT Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The genealogy ends with Seth, Adam, and 'the son of God,' tracing Jesus to the first man and to God Himself. Jesus is the second Adam, head of a new humanity.

Overview

By ending at Adam, 'the son of God,' Luke shows Jesus as truly human and the universal Savior, not merely Israel's. The phrase invites comparison with Jesus, the true Son of God, who succeeds where Adam failed. As the last Adam, Christ becomes the founder of a redeemed humanity—a theme the following temptation account immediately develops.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 7

  • Gen 2:7Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
  • Isa 64:8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
  • 1 Cor 15:45So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
  • 1 Cor 15:47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.
  • Gen 4:25And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
  • Acts 17:26–29From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
  • Gen 1:26–27Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Luke videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Luke 3:38YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on LukeMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.

How Luke 3:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.