Verse Lens · Context pointer
Matthew 1:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Interrupts Joseph's deliberation with an angelic dream addressing him as David's son.
Read It With
- Matthew 1:18–1:25
Matthew 1:20 interrupts Joseph's deliberation with an angelic dream addressing him as David's son; within Matthew 1:18–1:25, it contributes to this controlling movement: Mary is found pregnant by the Holy Ghost, Joseph plans a quiet divorce, an angel interprets the child through Jesus and Emmanuel language, and Joseph receives Mary and names the child.
Why It Needs Context
Interrupts Joseph's deliberation with an angelic dream addressing him as David's son. Its responsible force depends on Matthew 1:18–1:25; it supplies genealogy, sequence, quotation, dialogue, image, response, or transition rather than a complete standalone teaching.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Matthew 1:18–1:25 — Joseph receives and obeys the birth announcementSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Matthew 1:18–1:25, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 1:18–1:25
Open the Matthew Greek text file ↗