Heli — person in the Bible

Heli

Man living at the time of the New Testament

Heli was the father of Mary and the maternal grandfather of Jesus.

Heli is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke. He is identified as the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and thus, the maternal grandfather of Jesus (Luk.3.23). In the genealogy, Luke traces Jesus' lineage back to Adam through his mother Mary's side of the family, while Matthew's genealogy (Matt 1.1-17) follows Joseph's lineage. The mention of Heli provides insight into Jesus' family background and affirms his connection to the Davidic line through his mother. No further information is given about Heli in the Bible. (Luk.3.23).

Connections

Joseph's father: Jacob or Heli

FamilyDebated

Matthew says Joseph's father was Jacob; Luke says Joseph was the son of Heli. Africanus reconciled this with a levirate marriage; others read Luke's line as Mary's and TIPNR lists Heli as Mary's father.

JosephMary's husband JacobFather of Joseph HeliSon of Matthat MaryMosther of Jesus

Where the text shows it: Matthew 1:16 — Jacob begat Joseph.Luke 3:23 — Joseph the son of Heli.

Ways people read this (3)

Levirate: Jacob and Heli were half brothers (Africanus).
Mary's genealogy: Luke lists Heli as Mary's father through Joseph.
Two different lines of royal and natural descent.

Sources: Matthew 1:16 · Luke 3:23 · Julius Africanus, Letter to Aristides (cited in Eusebius, Church History)

Bible dictionary

Heli Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Elevation, father of Joseph in the line of our Lord’s ancestry (Luke 3:23).

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Heli Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(ascending), the father of Joseph the husband of the Virgin Mary, (Luke 13:23) perhaps the grandfather of Mary herself. [See Genealogy Of Jesus Christ OF JESUS CHRIST]

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Heli Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

ascending; climbing up

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Heli Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

HE'LI (elevation), the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, Luke 3:23. The same word as Eli.

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Heli Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

HE'LI (elevation), the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, Luke 3:23. The same word as Eli.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Heli appears

1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G2242

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.