Genesis 5: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter is a written record of Adam's family line, from Adam down to Noah. For most of them it gives his age when his named son was born, the years he lived after that, the other sons and daughters he had, and his total years, ending with the words "and he died." Enoch's entry differs: he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Lamech names his son Noah and says this one will comfort them in their work and the toil of their hands, because of the ground the LORD has cursed.

Claim by Claim

1. 5:1
   • This is the book of the generations of Adam.
   • In the day God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
2. 5:2
   • God created them male and female.
   • God blessed them.
   • God called their name Adam, that is, man.
   • God named them in the day when they were created.
3. 5:3
   • Adam lived 130 years.
   • Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.
   • Adam called his son's name Seth.
4. 5:4
   • After Adam begat Seth, the days of Adam were 800 years.
   • Adam begat sons and daughters.
5. 5:5
   • All the days that Adam lived were 930 years.
   • Adam died.
6. 5:6
   • Seth lived 105 years.
   • Seth begat Enos.
7. 5:7
   • Seth lived 807 years after he begat Enos.
   • Seth begat sons and daughters.
8. 5:8
   • All the days of Seth were 912 years.
   • Seth died.
9. 5:9
   • Enos lived 90 years.
   • Enos begat Cainan.
10. 5:10
    • Enos lived 815 years after he begat Cainan.
    • Enos begat sons and daughters.
11. 5:11
    • All the days of Enos were 905 years.
    • Enos died.
12. 5:12
    • Cainan lived 70 years.
    • Cainan begat Mahalaleel.
13. 5:13
    • Cainan lived 840 years after he begat Mahalaleel.
    • Cainan begat sons and daughters.
14. 5:14
    • All the days of Cainan were 910 years.
    • Cainan died.
15. 5:15
    • Mahalaleel lived 65 years.
    • Mahalaleel begat Jared.
16. 5:16
    • Mahalaleel lived 830 years after he begat Jared.
    • Mahalaleel begat sons and daughters.
17. 5:17
    • All the days of Mahalaleel were 895 years.
    • Mahalaleel died.
18. 5:18
    • Jared lived 162 years.
    • Jared begat Enoch.
19. 5:19
    • Jared lived 800 years after he begat Enoch.
    • Jared begat sons and daughters.
20. 5:20
    • All the days of Jared were 962 years.
    • Jared died.
21. 5:21
    • Enoch lived 65 years.
    • Enoch begat Methuselah.
22. 5:22
    • Enoch walked with God for 300 years after he begat Methuselah.
    • Enoch begat sons and daughters.
23. 5:23
    • All the days of Enoch were 365 years.
24. 5:24
    • Enoch walked with God.
    • Enoch was no more.
    • God took him.
25. 5:25
    • Methuselah lived 187 years.
    • Methuselah begat Lamech.
26. 5:26
    • Methuselah lived 782 years after he begat Lamech.
    • Methuselah begat sons and daughters.
27. 5:27
    • All the days of Methuselah were 969 years.
    • Methuselah died.
28. 5:28
    • Lamech lived 182 years.
    • Lamech begat a son.
29. 5:29
    • Lamech called his son's name Noah.
    • Lamech said that this one would comfort them concerning their work and the toil of their hands.
    • Lamech said the toil came from the ground.
    • Lamech said the LORD had cursed the ground.
30. 5:30
    • Lamech lived 595 years after he begat Noah.
    • Lamech begat sons and daughters.
31. 5:31
    • All the days of Lamech were 777 years.
    • Lamech died.
32. 5:32
    • Noah was 500 years old.
    • Noah begat Shem.
    • Noah begat Ham.
    • Noah begat Japheth.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

5:1

"The book of the generations" translates a Hebrew phrase (toledot) that recurs throughout Genesis as a section heading. It means something like "the account of what came from", a family record tracing descendants. Such lists were often selective rather than complete: a man could be said to "father" a descendant several generations down, so the totals are not necessarily an unbroken father-to-son chain.

5:2

The Hebrew word here, adam, is both the ordinary word for "human being, humankind" and the personal name Adam. The verse says God named them, male and female together, "man," the same word the King James translates as a proper name in verse 3. English cannot show both senses at once.

5:3

"Likeness" and "image" are the same pair of Hebrew words used of God making humans in verse 1. The wording deliberately puts Adam fathering Seth in parallel with God making Adam.

5:4

"The days of Adam" simply means his lifetime. The "sons and daughters" are real but unnamed: this kind of list follows one father-to-son line and mentions everyone else in a single phrase, so the absence of names does not mean the absence of people.

5:5

The very long lifespans in this chapter are given as plain numbers in the Hebrew, with no hint that they are figures of speech. The ancient manuscripts do not all agree on them: the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek Septuagint give different ages at fatherhood and different totals for several of these men. Comparable king lists from Mesopotamia assign their earliest rulers reigns far longer still, running to tens of thousands of years.

5:6

Enos (Enosh) is itself a Hebrew word for "man" or "mortal", a near-synonym of adam. Several names in this list are ordinary Hebrew words: Cainan, Mahalaleel ("praise of God"), Jared ("descent"), Lamech.

5:9

Cainan (Kenan in modern translations) is a different person from Cain in Genesis 4, despite the similar sound in English. This chapter traces the line of Seth, not the line of Cain.

5:18

This Enoch is not the Enoch of Genesis 4:17, who was a son of Cain. The two family lines in Genesis 4 and 5 share several similar-sounding names, including Enoch, Lamech, and Methuselah or Methusael.

5:22

"Walked with God" is an idiom, not a description of movement. It means living one's whole life in company with God, habitual closeness and loyalty. The same phrase is used of Noah in Genesis 6:9. Note that for Enoch alone the chapter's fixed formula "and he lived" is replaced by "and he walked with God."

5:23

365 years is by far the shortest span in the chapter, less than half of any other. It also matches the number of days in a solar year, a coincidence ancient readers noticed.

5:24

Every other entry in this chapter closes "and he died." Enoch's does not. The Hebrew is abrupt: literally "and he was not, for God took him." The verb "took" is the same one used later of Elijah being carried off (2 Kings 2). The text says no more than this, and does not explain where or into what he was taken.

5:27

969 years is the longest lifespan recorded anywhere in the Bible, which is why "as old as Methuselah" became an English expression for extreme age. If you add up the figures in this chapter and the flood date in Genesis 7, Methuselah dies in the year the flood comes.

5:29

The name Noah (Hebrew Noach) is being linked by sound to the word for "comfort" or "relief" (nacham). It is a play on words rather than a strict derivation, the name more directly resembles nuach, "to rest." The curse Lamech refers to is the one laid on the ground in Genesis 3:17-19, which made farming a struggle. LORD printed in capitals stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, four consonants usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers came not to pronounce aloud.

5:31

This Lamech is a descendant of Seth and a different man from the Lamech in Genesis 4:18-24, who came from Cain's line and boasted of taking revenge seventy-sevenfold. His total of 777 years echoes that number, and repeated sevens carry a sense of completeness in Hebrew writing.

5:32

The Hebrew idiom is "Noah was a son of five hundred years." The three sons are not triplets born in that year; the verse gives Noah's age when his family began, and Genesis elsewhere indicates the three were born over a span of time. The order Shem, Ham, Japheth reflects their importance to the story that follows rather than certain birth order (compare Genesis 10:21).