The premise of your
question assumes that the ISV rendering must be either one or the other
(i.e., you ask, "Is it a literal translation or an interpretation?"), but
you don't ask whether our rendering might contain elements of being both
literal and interpretive. This is a problematic assumption. Were you are
unaware that the primary definition of the Greek word γένεσις used in
Matthew 1:1 means "birth" and only secondarily means "genealogy"? As
documentation, please see the following definition of γένεσις from Friberg's
Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament:
γένεσις, εως, (1) birth
(LU 1.14); (2) as a historical record of a family line origin, genealogy,
lineage (MT 1.1); (3) existence, life; "he was born with his natural face"
(JA 1.23); the course of life, the (whole) round of existence (JA 3.6)
[Quoted in See Friberg, T., Friberg, B., & Miller, N. F. (2000). Vol. 4:
Analytical lexicon of the Greek New Testament. Baker's Greek New Testament
library (97). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.]
To sum up, NASB, ESV,
and NIV use the secondary (and, in our view therefore a less meaningful)
definition of γένεσις. These other translations that you mention contain
interpretations; i.e., that the word γένεσις means "genealogy" rather than
its more natural meaning "birth". In our view, then, the ISV is quite
literal in Matthew 1:1.
Besides, the context of
Matthew 1:1 requires γένεσις to mean "birth", at the very least, not merely
"genealogy". That's because the record contains the birth narrative, not
merely a list of ancestors. Also, the list of names is only a partial list,
containing groups of 14 names using a rabbinic gematria formula commonly
known from the first century...which eliminates the list of ancestors from
being, strictly speaking, a genealogy. The concentration of Matthew 1 isn't
on the genealogy, but rather the circumstances surrounding birth of Jesus
the Messiah. So that's why we translated γένεσις as "birth", not as
"genealogy".
One other thought. Note
that James 3:6 cites γενέσεως as "the course of life" noted in Friberg's
Lexicon, which implies clearly that Matthew's use of the phrase βίβλος
γενέσεως at the beginning of Matthew 1:1 may very well mean that the word
βίβλος is referring to the entire book of Matthew being "a record of the
life" of Jesus, not merely the first section of the book being a record of
his genealogy, especially since as a genealogy the first part of Matthew is
incomplete by author's intention.
At any rate, in order to
clarify the issues addressed in this reader's email, we recrafted Matthew
1:1-2 as follows:
An Introduction to Jesus
the Messiah
1This is[f] a record of the life[f] of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David,
the son of Abraham.
The Ancestry of Jesus
(Luke 3:23-28)
2Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered
Judah...
[f] 1:1 The Gk. lacks This is
[f] 1:1 Or birth
