Genesis 5:27
in Genesis 5So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
KJV
And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
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This verse in Genesis 5
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years, and he died,.... This was the oldest man that ever lived, no man ever lived to a thousand years: the Jews give this as a reason for it, because a thousand years is God's day, according to Psa 90:4 and no man is suffered to arrive to that.
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 at 187 and lived 782 years more. The numbers put his death in the year of the flood, and Jamieson reads his name as a warning; the etymology is disputed.
This site's exposition
a total of 969 years
Gill passed on a Jewish explanation of why no man reached a thousand years: a thousand years is God's day, from Psalm 90:4. Adam Clarke added that even this longest life ends with the words then he died. No life in Scripture reaches a thousand.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
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 …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years, and he died,.... This was the oldest man that ever lived, no man ever lived to a thousand years: the Jews give this as a reason for it, because a thousand years is God's day, according to Psa 90:4 and no man is suffered to arrive to that.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years - This is the longest life mentioned in Scripture, and probably the longest ever lived; but we have not authority to say positively that it was the longest. Before the flood, and before artificial refinements were much known and cultivated, the life of man was greatly protracted, and yet of him who lived within thirty-one years of a thousand it is said he died; and the longest life is but as a moment when it is past.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּהְיוּ֙ | vaiyihyu | and they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יְמֵ֣י | yemei | [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַח | metushelach | Methuselah | H4968 → | 6 times |
| תֵּ֤שַׁע | tesha' | nine | H8672 → | 58 times |
| וְשִׁשִּׁים֙ | veshishim | and sixty | H8346 → | 59 times |
| שָׁנָ֔ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וּתְשַׁ֥ע | utesha' | and nine | H8672 → | 58 times |
| מֵא֖וֹת | meot | hundred<s> | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וַיָּמֹֽת׃ פ | vaiyamot | and he died | H4191 → | 839 times |
וַיִּהְיוּ֙and they were
vaiyihyuH1961 →3559 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
יְמֵ֣י[the] days of
yemeiH3117 →2304 times
מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַחMethuselah
metushelachH4968 →6 times
תֵּ֤שַׁעnine
tesha'H8672 →58 times
וְשִׁשִּׁים֙and sixty
veshishimH8346 →59 times
שָׁנָ֔הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וּתְשַׁ֥עand nine
utesha'H8672 →58 times
מֵא֖וֹתhundred<s>
meotH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וַיָּמֹֽת׃ פand he died
vaiyamotH4191 →839 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies15
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).