Genesis 5:25
in Genesis 5When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
KJV
And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
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This verse in Genesis 5
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(Verse 25.) And Methuselah lived for 167 years and begot Lamech. And Methuselah lived, after he begot Lamech, for 802 years, and he begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah, that he lived, were 969 years, and he died. The famous question, and the subject of dispute among all the churches, is that, according to careful calculation, Methuselah is said to have lived fourteen years after the flood. For when Methuselah was sixty-seven years old, he begot Lamech. And again, Lamech, when he was eighty-eight years old, begot Noah.
This site's exposition
When Methuselah was 187 years old
on Genesis 5:25-28
Methuselah reached 969 years, longer than any man in Scripture, and then he died. He became the father of Lamech, and the numbers put his death in the year of the flood, which Jamieson reads as a warning built into his name. The etymology is disputed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Moreover the difference in numbers that we find between the Hebrew text and our own constitutes no disagreement about this longevity of the ancients. If any discrepancy is such that the two versions cannot both be true, we must seek the authentic account of events in the language from which our text was translated. Though this opportunity is universally available to those who wish to take it, yet, significantly enough, no one has ventured to correct the Septuagint version from the Hebrew text in the very many places where it seems to offer something different. The reason is that those differences were not considered falsifications, nor do I think that they should be so regarded in any way. Rather, where no error by the copyist is ascertained and where the sense would be harmonious with the truth and would proclaim the truth, we should believe that they were moved by the Holy Spirit to say something differently, not as part of the service that they did as translators but as exercising the freedom that they enjoyed as prophets.
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 …
Methuselah also lived one hundred eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, and begot Noah, saying: "He will comfort us from our works and labors of our hands on the earth which the Lord has cursed."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And Methuselah lived an hundred and eighty and seven years, and beget Lamech. The Septuagint version is an hundred and sixty seven; the Samaritan only sixty seven; the same names were given to some of the posterity of Seth as were to those of Cain, as Lamech here, and Enoch before.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
That is, he died. So, too, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me (Jonah:3).
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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְחִ֣י | vaychi | and he lived | H2421 → | 282 times |
| מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַח | metushelach | Methuselah | H4968 → | 6 times |
| שֶׁ֧בַע | sheva' | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| וּשְׁמֹנִ֛ים | ushemonim | and eighty | H8084 → | 38 times |
| שָׁנָ֖ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וּמְאַ֣ת | umeat | and one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וַיּ֖וֹלֶד | vaiyoled | and he fathered | H3205 → | 496 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לָֽמֶךְ׃ | lamekh | Lamech | H3929 → | 11 times |
וַיְחִ֣יand he lived
vaychiH2421 →282 times
מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַחMethuselah
metushelachH4968 →6 times
שֶׁ֧בַעseven
sheva'H7651 →394 times
וּשְׁמֹנִ֛יםand eighty
ushemonimH8084 →38 times
שָׁנָ֖הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וּמְאַ֣תand one hundred
umeatH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וַיּ֖וֹלֶדand he fathered
vaiyoledH3205 →496 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
לָֽמֶךְ׃Lamech
lamekhH3929 →11 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
2 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 4:18Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech.
it leads to
- Genesis 36:2
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
- Genesis 5:21
When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah.
- Genesis 36:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on Augustine of Hippo, City of God 15.14; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).