The word Jew, a nickname for the Israelite tribe of Judah, originated in the thirteenth century. It is first used in the Bible to identify the men of Judah in II Kings 16:6, a thousand years after the time of Abraham. The tribe of Judah descended from Judah, one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob. Judah, the progenitor of the Jews, was a great-grandson of Abraham. Thus, Abraham was not a Jew, but an ancestor of the Jews.

The word Jew, derived from the old English term Judean, refers to the descendants of Judah, one of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Jesus, through both His mother Mary and stepfather Joseph, is listed in the New Testament genealogies as a descendant of Judah, belonging to the Davidic, kingly line. God inspired the apostle Paul to affirm that our Lord arose from Judah. In Revelation, Jesus is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and long before His birth, it was prophesied that the Messiah would come from this tribe. In a conversation with a Samaritan woman, Jesus includes Himself among the Jews, stating that salvation is of the Jews. Despite this, the Jews rejected Him, as He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. Jesus was born as a human being into the nation, area, and family of Judah, taking on the flesh and blood of His physical parent Mary through a divine begettal.