Genesis 5:32
in Genesis 5After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
KJV
And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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This verse in Genesis 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verseNoah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth - From Gen 10:21; 1Ch 1:5, etc., we learn that Japheth was the eldest son of Noah, but Shem is mentioned first, because it was from him, in a direct line, that the Messiah came. Ham was certainly the youngest of Noah’s sons, and from what we read, Gen 9:22, the worst of them; and how he comes to be mentioned out of his natural order is not easy to be accounted for.
This site's exposition
After Noah was 500 years old
Eight men in this chapter lived and then died, and the chapter closes on Noah without that line. Shem is named first, and Clarke reads the order as the line the promise runs through. Shem, Ham and Japheth carry the rest of the book.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
After recounting the ten generations from Adam to Noah, Moses said, "Noah was five hundred years old and begot Shem and Ham and Japheth."
The Medieval Church2 voices
It should be noted that where our Codices, translated from the Hebrew source, say Adam lived for one hundred and thirty years and begot Seth, the ancient translation has, instead of one hundred and thirty, two hundred and thirty; where our Codices continue, "And the …
Noah indeed, when he was five hundred years old, begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Therefore, Noah was born in the tenth generation, because he both represented and led the lives of those who are perfect in the observance of the Decalogue.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The first words of the chapter are the title or argument of the whole chapter: it is the book of the generations of Adam; it is the list or catalogue of the posterity of Adam, not of all, but only of the holy seed who were the substance thereof ( Isa. vi. 13 ), and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came ( Rom. ix.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth - These Noah begat (the eldest of these) when he was six hundred years old. It should seem that Japheth was the eldest, chap. x, 21, but Shem is put first, because on him the covenant was entailed, as appears by chap. ix, 26, where God is called the Lord God of Shem.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth - These Noah begat (the eldest of these) when he was six hundred years old. It should seem that Japheth was the eldest, chap. x, 21, but Shem is put first, because on him the covenant was entailed, as appears by chap. ix, 26, where God is called the Lord God of Shem.
And Noah was five hundred years old,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Noah was five hundred years old: and . . . begat--That he and the other patriarchs were advanced in life before children were born to them is a difficulty accounted for probably from the circumstance that Moses does not here record their first-born sons, but only the succession from Adam through Seth to Abraham.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Noah was five hundred years old: and . . . begat--That he and the other patriarchs were advanced in life before children were born to them is a difficulty accounted for probably from the circumstance that Moses does not here record their first-born sons, but only the succession from Adam through Seth to Abraham.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽיְהִי־ | vayhi- | and he was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| נֹ֕חַ | noach | Noah | H5146 → | 46 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| חֲמֵ֥שׁ | chamesh | five | H2568 → | 343 times |
| מֵא֖וֹת | meot | hundred<s> | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וַיּ֣וֹלֶד | vaiyoled | and he fathered | H3205 → | 496 times |
| נֹ֔חַ | noach | Noah | H5146 → | 46 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שֵׁ֖ם | shem | Shem | H8035 → | 17 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| חָ֥ם | cham | Ham | H2526 → | 16 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָֽפֶת׃ | yafet | Japheth | H3315 → | 11 times |
וַֽיְהִי־and he was
vayhi-H1961 →3559 times
נֹ֕חַNoah
noachH5146 →46 times
בֶּן־a son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
חֲמֵ֥שׁfive
chameshH2568 →343 times
מֵא֖וֹתhundred<s>
meotH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וַיּ֣וֹלֶדand he fathered
vaiyoledH3205 →496 times
נֹ֔חַNoah
noachH5146 →46 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שֵׁ֖םShem
shemH8035 →17 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
חָ֥םHam
chamH2526 →16 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
יָֽפֶת׃Japheth
yafetH3315 →11 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
Genesis 10:32All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
it leads to
- Genesis 9:19
These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 17:26
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
- Genesis 10:1
This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
- Genesis 9:19
Through
Genesis 10:1This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
it leads to
- Genesis 9:7
But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 2:4
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made them.
- Matthew 1:1
This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
- Genesis 9:7
Through
Genesis 10:21And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.
it leads to
- Numbers 24:24
Ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus; they will subdue Asshur and Eber, but they too will perish forever.”
- Numbers 24:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Genesis
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 6.1.1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.