Genesis 5:1
in Genesis 5This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
KJV
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
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This verse in Genesis 5
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThat there was a day in which God created man. He was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first-born, but the junior of the creation. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore, undoubtedly, happy.
This site's exposition
the book of the generations of Adam
on Genesis 5:1-2
The heading opens a book of names. The first thing it says is that God made man in His own likeness and created them male and female, and He called them both by one name, man. The Hebrew is adam, the name of the first man and the word for mankind.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
The reason for this break in the narrative [in the description of the genealogies to the flood] was, I take it, that the writer, as though bidden by God, was unwilling to have the beginning of world chronology reckoned from the earthly city (that is, from the generation of Cain), and so he deliberately went back to Adam for a new beginning. If we ask why this return to recapitulate was made immediately after mentioning Seth's son, the man who hoped to call upon the name of the Lord God, the answer must be that this was the proper way to present the two cities. The one begins and ends with a murderer, for Lamech, too, as he admitted to his two wives, was a murderer. The other city begins with the man who hoped to call upon the name of the Lord God, for the invocation of God is the whole and the highest preoccupation of the city of God during its pilgrimage in this world. It is symbolized in the one "man" (Enosh) born of the "resurrection" (Seth) of the man who was slain (Abel). That one man in fact is a symbol of the unity of the whole heavenly city, which is not yet in the fullness that it is destined to reach and which is adumbrated in this prophetic figure.
This is the book of the generation of mankind. In the day that God created Adam, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them.
Of these the first was Alorus, that is, Adam; the second Alaaprus, Seth; the third, Almêdôn, Enoch; the fourth, Ammeôn, Cainân: the fifth, Ammegalaros, Mahalaleel; the sixth, Daonus, a keeper of sheep, Jared; the seventh, Euedôrachos, Enoch; the eighth, Amempsinachus, Methuselah; the ninth, Otiortes, Lamech; …
The Medieval Church1 voice
This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God: He created them male and female, and He blessed them.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
This is the book of the generations of Adam,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
That there was a day in which God created man. He was not from eternity, but of yesterday; he was not the first-born, but the junior of the creation. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and holy, and therefore, undoubtedly, happy.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The book of the generations - ספר sepher, in Hebrew, which we generally translate book, signifies a register, an account, any kind of writing, even a letter, such as the bill of divorce. Here It means the account or register of the generations of Adam or his descendants to the five hundredth year of the life of Noah. In the likeness of God made he him - This account is again introduced to keep man in remembrance of the heights of glory whence he bad fallen; and to prove to him that the miseries and death consequent on his present state were produced by his transgression, and did not flow from his original state. For, as he was created in the image of God, he was created free from natural and moral evil. As the deaths of the patriarchs are now to be mentioned, it was necessary to introduce them by this observation, in order to justify the ways of God to man.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
- Section V - The Line to Noah - The Line of Sheth 1. ספר sepher “writing, a writing, a book.” 9. קינן qēynān, Qenan, “possessor, or spearsman.” 12. <מהללאל mahelal'ēl, Mahalalel, “praise of ‘El.” 15. ירד yerĕd, Jered, “going down.” 21. מתוּשׁלה metûshālach, Methushelach, “man of the missile.” 29. נה noach, Noach, “rest,” נחם nācham “sigh; repent; pity; comfort oneself; be revenged.” 32. שׁם shēm, Shem, “name, fame; related: be high.” חם chām Cham, “hot.” יפת yāpet, Japheth, “spreading; related: spread out.” We now enter upon the third of the larger documents contained in Genesis.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
These are the children He will mention in the chapter. 473 So Rashi and Ibn Ezra. In my opinion, this alludes to the entire Torah, for the entire Torah is the book of the generations of Adam.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
This means that He gave them the power of procreation, to be blessed forever with very many sons and daughters.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זֶ֣ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| סֵ֔פֶר | sefer | [is] [the] record of | H5612 → | |
| תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת | toldot | [the] descendants of | H8435 → | 39 times |
| אָדָ֑ם | ʾadam | Adam | H121 → | 12 times |
| בְּי֗וֹם | beyom | on [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| בְּרֹ֤א | bero' | created | H1254 → | 55 times |
| אֱלֹהִים֙ | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אָדָ֔ם | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| בִּדְמ֥וּת | bidmut | in [the] likeness of | H1823 → | 25 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֖ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| עָשָׂ֥ה | ʾasah | he made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֹתֽוֹ׃ | ʾoto | <obj.> him | H853 → | 10935 times |
זֶ֣הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
סֵ֔פֶר[is] [the] record of
seferH5612 →
תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת[the] descendants of
toldotH8435 →39 times
אָדָ֑םAdam
ʾadamH121 →12 times
בְּי֗וֹםon [the] day
beyomH3117 →2304 times
בְּרֹ֤אcreated
bero'H1254 →55 times
אֱלֹהִים֙God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
אָדָ֔םhumankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
בִּדְמ֥וּתin [the] likeness of
bidmutH1823 →25 times
אֱלֹהִ֖יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
עָשָׂ֥הhe made
ʾasahH6213 →2628 times
אֹתֽוֹ׃<obj.> him
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Colossians 3:10–14
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
Through
Hebrews 1:3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the…
it leads to
- Colossians 1:15–17
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
- Colossians 1:15–17
Through
Colossians 3:10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:23–24
to be renewed in the spirit of your minds;
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- Ephesians 4:23–24
Through
Ecclesiastes 12:1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:27
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
- Ecclesiastes 11:8
So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile.
- Lamentations 3:27
Where this verse is studied
What the record shows
1 entry◈The gospel in the Genesis 5 genealogycontested
Chuck Missler's "gospel in the genealogy": the meanings of the names from Adam to Noah read in sequence as a single sentence of redemption. This is an interpretive reading rather than a statistical claim — the etymologies run from solid to genuinely contested (Methuselah, Mahalalel, Jared), and change one contested gloss and the sentence stops being a sentence. Present it as a devotional observation with the etymological caveats visible.
The case against it
An interpretive reading rather than a statistical claim, so - uniquely in this registry - the Hays rubric applies. Availability: yes. Volume: low, since the sentence depends on selecting one gloss per disputed name. History of interpretation: modern (nineteenth and twentieth century), not patristic and not rabbinic. Satisfaction: undercut by the glosses themselves. The etymologies run from solid (Adam, Enosh, Noah) to genuinely contested - "Methuselah = his death shall bring" is disputed, and the Mahalalel and Jared glosses are selective (standard Hebrew lexica). Change one contested gloss and the sentence stops being a sentence, which is the tell that it is being assembled rather than read out. Present as a devotional observation with the etymological caveats visible, not as a demonstrable authorial encoding.
About Genesis
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, City of God 15.21; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 5; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.