Genesis 5
1 זֶ֣ה סֵ֔פֶר תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת אָדָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם בְּרֹ֤א אֱלֹהִים֙ אָדָ֔ם בִּדְמ֥וּת אֱלֹהִ֖ים עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתֽוֹ
2 זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בְּרָאָ֑ם וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָ֗ם וַיִּקְרָ֤א אֶת שְׁמָם֙ אָדָ֔ם בְּי֖וֹם הִבָּֽרְאָֽם
3 וַֽיְחִ֣י אָדָ֗ם שְׁלֹשִׁ֤ים וּמְאַת֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בִּדְמוּת֖וֹ כְּצַלְמ֑וֹ וַיִּקְרָ֥א אֶת שְׁמ֖וֹ שֵֽׁת
4 וַיִּֽהְי֣וּ יְמֵי אָדָ֗ם אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת שֵׁ֔ת שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵאֹ֖ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
5 וַיִּֽהְי֞וּ כָּל יְמֵ֤י אָדָם֙ אֲשֶׁר חַ֔י תְּשַׁ֤ע מֵאוֹת֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
6 וַֽיְחִי שֵׁ֕ת חָמֵ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת אֱנֽוֹשׁ
7 וַֽיְחִי שֵׁ֗ת אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת אֱנ֔וֹשׁ שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
8 וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙ כָּל יְמֵי שֵׁ֔ת שְׁתֵּ֤ים עֶשְׂרֵה֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּתְשַׁ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
9 וַֽיְחִ֥י אֱנ֖וֹשׁ תִּשְׁעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת קֵינָֽן
10 וַֽיְחִ֣י אֱנ֗וֹשׁ אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת קֵינָ֔ן חֲמֵ֤שׁ עֶשְׂרֵה֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
11 וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙ כָּל יְמֵ֣י אֱנ֔וֹשׁ חָמֵ֣שׁ שָׁנִ֔ים וּתְשַׁ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
12 וַֽיְחִ֥י קֵינָ֖ן שִׁבְעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת מַֽהֲלַלְאֵֽל
13 וַיְחִ֣י קֵינָ֗ן אַחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת מַֽהֲלַלְאֵ֔ל אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
14 וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙ כָּל יְמֵ֣י קֵינָ֔ן עֶ֣שֶׂר שָׁנִ֔ים וּתְשַׁ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
15 וַֽיְחִ֣י מַֽהֲלַלְאֵ֔ל חָמֵ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים וְשִׁשִּׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת יָֽרֶד
16 וַֽיְחִ֣י מַֽהֲלַלְאֵ֗ל אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת יֶ֔רֶד שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
17 וַיִּהְיוּ֙ כָּל יְמֵ֣י מַהֲלַלְאֵ֔ל חָמֵ֤שׁ וְתִשְׁעִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
18 וַֽיְחִי יֶ֕רֶד שְׁתַּ֧יִם וְשִׁשִּׁ֛ים שָׁנָ֖ה וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת חֲנֽוֹךְ
19 וַֽיְחִי יֶ֗רֶד אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת חֲנ֔וֹךְ שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
20 וַיִּֽהְיוּ֙ כָּל יְמֵי יֶ֔רֶד שְׁתַּ֤יִם וְשִׁשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּתְשַׁ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
21 וַֽיְחִ֣י חֲנ֔וֹךְ חָמֵ֥שׁ וְשִׁשִּׁ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת מְתוּשָֽׁלַח
22 וַיִּתְהַלֵּ֨ךְ חֲנ֜וֹךְ אֶת הָֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַח שְׁלֹ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
23 וַיְהִ֖י כָּל יְמֵ֣י חֲנ֑וֹךְ חָמֵ֤שׁ וְשִׁשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁלֹ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה
24 וַיִּתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ חֲנ֖וֹךְ אֶת הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְאֵינֶ֕נּוּ כִּֽי לָקַ֥ח אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים
25 וַיְחִ֣י מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַח שֶׁ֧בַע וּשְׁמֹנִ֛ים שָׁנָ֖ה וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת לָֽמֶךְ
26 וַֽיְחִ֣י מְתוּשֶׁ֗לַח אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת לֶ֔מֶךְ שְׁתַּ֤יִם וּשְׁמוֹנִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁבַ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
27 וַיִּהְיוּ֙ כָּל יְמֵ֣י מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַח תֵּ֤שַׁע וְשִׁשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּתְשַׁ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
28 וַֽיְחִי לֶ֕מֶךְ שְׁתַּ֧יִם וּשְׁמֹנִ֛ים שָׁנָ֖ה וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד בֵּֽן
29 וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֶת שְׁמ֛וֹ נֹ֖חַ לֵאמֹ֑ר זֶ֞֠ה יְנַחֲמֵ֤נוּ מִֽמַּעֲשֵׂ֨נוּ֙ וּמֵעִצְּב֣וֹן יָדֵ֔ינוּ מִן הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵֽרְרָ֖הּ יְהוָֽה
30 וַֽיְחִי לֶ֗מֶךְ אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת נֹ֔חַ חָמֵ֤שׁ וְתִשְׁעִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וַחֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵאֹ֖ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת
31 וַֽיְהִי֙ כָּל יְמֵי לֶ֔מֶךְ שֶׁ֤בַע וְשִׁבְעִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁבַ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת
32 וַֽיְהִי נֹ֕חַ בֶּן חֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֣וֹלֶד נֹ֔חַ אֶת שֵׁ֖ם אֶת חָ֥ם וְאֶת יָֽפֶת
Notes
- Decision↩ Back to the text
Expected: "the book" (KJV, RSV)
סֵפֶר is anything written: a letter David sends to Joab (2 Sam 11:14–15), a deed of purchase (Jer 32:10–16), a bill of divorce (Deut 24:1), the scroll Moses is told to write in (Exod 17:14) and Adonai's own scroll, "blot me out of your scroll that you have written" (Exod 32:32). Its form in Israel was the roll, of leather or papyrus. Jer 36 calls the same object a מְגִלַּת סֵפֶר (vv. 2, 4) and then a סֵפֶר (vv. 8, 10–11), and Baruch reads it aloud column by column (36:23). English "book" brings in the bound codex, which is centuries later. "Scroll" keeps the material object (39). מְגִלָּה, the "roll," keeps its own word, as in the KJV's "roll of a book" (Jer 36:2; Ezek 2:9). This is the first written thing in the Bible: the line from the human to Noah is given as a document, something the narrator has in hand. Hermann Gunkel and Gerhard von Rad held that a separate "book of producings" lay behind Genesis 5 and 11, and that the narrator was quoting it. The LXX has Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως ἀνθρώπων. Matthew opens with the same words, Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Matt 1:1), and the NT follows its own Greek there (4). Resh Lakish reads the scroll literally (b. Avodah Zarah 5a; Gen. Rab. 24:2): Elohim showed Adam a scroll of every generation to come and its teachers.
- Decision↩ Back to the text
Expected: "Adam" (KJV, RSV)
In vv. 1–3 the same anarthrous אָדָם is written four times, and over these three verses the text moves it from a kind to a man. OSHB tags the first (v. 1a) and the fourth (v. 3) as the personal name (H121), and the two between (v. 1b, v. 2) as the common noun (H120). Before it uses the word again, the text says what it means. The אָדָם Elohim created is "male and female… them" (v. 2), the language of 1:27: that is the kind. The ancient versions divide. The LXX reads the heading as the kind, βίβλος γενέσεως ἀνθρώπων, "of humans," and then gives the name Αδαμ in v. 1b and v. 2. The Vulgate has Adam, hominem, Adam, and the KJV follows it; the RSV has "Adam… man… Man." The heading formula, "these are the producings of X," has a person for X at every later heading (6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2). Its first use, though, is "the producings of the skies and the land" (2:4), which have producings as a father has. So the formula does not decide. Ruling 72 lets "Adam" in only at the first unambiguous personal use. The heading is not unambiguous: the scroll is at once the family of the kind and the line of one man. English cannot hold both in one word, so ruling 1 prints the reading the English tradition passed over, the LXX's, "human." It is anarthrous, as at 2:5 and 2:20, and tagged as OSHB tags it. "Adam" enters at v. 3; see the note there. Both traditions build on this double sense (46). Ben Azzai calls this verse a greater principle of the Torah than Akiva's "love your neighbour as yourself" (Lev 19:18), because it speaks of all humankind as one family made in the likeness of Elohim (Sifra Qedoshim 4:12; y. Nedarim 9:4; Gen. Rab. 24:7). Christian reading needs the man. Luke ends the line of Jesus "son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God" (Luke 3:38). Paul's "first man Adam" (1 Cor 15:45; Rom 5:12–14) is one person who stands for the race, which is the double sense this verse holds.
- Decision↩ Back to the text
Expected: "Adam" (KJV) / "Man" (RSV)
"And he called their name" is the naming formula of v. 3 and v. 29 (וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־שְׁמוֹ), here with a plural suffix: the name belongs to "them," male and female together. Ruling 11 keeps "human" when "male and female" describes the אָדָם itself, and it names this verse. Ruling 18 gives a name its capital. So "Human" is printed as a name, just as the RSV and the NJPS print "Man" (NRSV "Humankind"; Alter "humankind"). The LXX and the Vulgate print "Adam," which settles the question that v. 3 settles. The Talmud reads the verse as the kind. R. Eleazar says "a man who has no woman is not an adam, for it is said, male and female he created them… and called their name adam" (b. Yevamot 63a). R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar takes "male and female he created them" to mean the first human was made androgynous (Gen. Rab. 8:1). In Gen 2–3 the human names every living thing and the woman (2:19–20, 23; 3:20), but no one names the human. Here Elohim gives the name, and gives it to the pair. "On the day they were created" (בְּיוֹם הִבָּרְאָם) is the infinitive of 2:4, "when they were created," and "on the day" takes up 2:4b. The kind has the name first, and in the next verse one man bears it.
- Decision↩ Back to the text
Expected: "Adam" (KJV, RSV)
OSHB's name tag (H121) carries the interim home gloss "human" until this chapter fixes the verse (72). This is the first verse in which אָדָם can only be a name. (a) The text has just made the word a name (שֵׁם, v. 2). (b) It fills the formula's slot that each of the ten fathers fills: "And X lived N years, and produced Y" (vv. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, 28), with a lifespan and a death (v. 5). (c) The Chronicler's list opens with it as a name: "Adam, Seth, Enosh" (1 Chr 1:1). In every earlier verse the common noun can still stand. At 3:17 and 4:25, where OSHB also reads the name, the anarthrous form has the consonants of the common noun at 3:21 ("for man and for his woman"). 4:25 also repeats the act of 4:1, "the man knew." And until v. 2 the text had not called the word a name. So "Adam" is printed from here, and the earlier verses keep the common noun under ruling 11. The name Elohim gave the kind in v. 2 is borne in v. 3 by one man. English needs two words, "Human" and "Adam," for what Hebrew says with one. The tag stays OSHB's, and this note is anchored at each of the three verses (3–5).
- Decision↩ Back to the text
Expected: "an hundred and thirty years" (KJV) / "a hundred and thirty years" (RSV)
A Hebrew number is a phrase whose members are joined by "and," and the order of the members varies within this chapter. Here it is "thirty and a hundred," the smaller first; in v. 5 it is "nine hundred… and thirty," the larger first. The noun "year" is said once, at the end (v. 3), or after each member (vv. 5–31). Ruling 6 keeps varied constructions varied. So each number is written as the Hebrew builds it: the members in the Hebrew order, "and" where the Hebrew has it, and "years" wherever the Hebrew has the noun. "Five years and sixty years" (v. 15) and "five and sixty years" (v. 21) are two constructions for one sum. The numbers mean exactly what the expected English means, and no stranger sense is attested (40); only the arrangement is the Hebrew's. English once built numbers this way: "four and twenty," and the KJV's own "sixty and five years" at v. 15. Gen 4:24 has "seventy and seven." Two things are not carried. The singular שָׁנָה after tens and hundreds against the plural שָׁנִים after units (vv. 6, 7, 11, 14, 15) is grammatical agreement, and English "years" serves both. And the Hebrew teens (שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה, v. 8; חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה, v. 10) are single numerals, as English "twelve" and "fifteen" are. The WPRB writes each sum in figures. The report raises number order as a question for a ruling.
- Reading↩ Back to the text
Gen 1:26 has "in our icon, as our likeness" (בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ). Here the prepositions trade places, "in his likeness, as his icon" (בִּדְמוּתוֹ כְּצַלְמוֹ), and the varied construction is kept (6). The two words that described the human's relation to Elohim (1:26–27; 5:1) now describe Seth's relation to Adam. The likeness passes on by producing. וַיּוֹלֶד has no object: the KJV supplies "a son" in italics, the RSV "a son" without them. The WPB leaves the gap as the Hebrew does, and the naming that follows fills it. Cain and Abel are not counted. The scroll begins the line again with the son "set in place of Abel" (4:25).
- Reading↩ Back to the text
Adam's entry differs from the other nine. Where the others say "lived after he produced," v. 4 has "the days of Adam… were." The death of the first human closes the first entry: "dying you shall die… on the day you eat" (2:17). Adam dies at 930 years, short of a thousand, and so readers measured the "day" of 2:17 as a thousand years, a day of Adonai (Ps 90:4). The reading is in Jubilees (4:29–30), Justin (Dialogue 81.3) and Irenaeus (Against Heresies 5.23.2). "And he died" then closes every entry but Enoch's (v. 23).
- Reading↩ Back to the text
Ruling 18
The names are printed in their familiar English forms. Their Hebrew forms and meanings are in the names table. Seth's line here and Cain's in 4:17–22 share names in nearly the same order: Kenan and Cain, Mahalalel and Mehujael, Jared and Irad, Enoch and Enoch, Methuselah and Methushael, Lamech and Lamech. Two Lamechs speak. Cain's boasts of a man killed and of vengeance seventy and seven (4:23–24). Seth's names a son for comfort from the cursed ground (v. 29). Noah's three sons (v. 32) are listed without the formula's close. The rest of his entry waits for 9:28–29, after the flood.
- Decision↩ Back to the text
Expected: "walked with God" (KJV, RSV)
At v. 22 וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ… אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים takes the place of the formula's "and he lived" (וַיְחִי), and at v. 24 it opens Enoch's close. The hithpael is the "walking about" of Adonai Elohim in the garden (3:8), and the same phrase is used of Noah (6:9). Abraham and Isaac walk about "before" Elohim (17:1; 24:40; 48:15). The noun has the article, and no verb or adjective agrees with it, so ruling 38 prints it lowercase and notes the crux. "The elohim" may be Elohim himself, as in v. 24b, where the verb "took" is singular and the anarthrous noun is printed "Elohim." Or it may be the divine beings, "the sons of the elohim" of 6:2 and 6:4, three verses on. The second reading is ancient. Jubilees says Enoch "was with the angels of God six jubilees of years," and they showed him everything on earth and in the heavens (4:21). 1 Enoch says "his works were with the Watchers, and his days with the holy ones" (12:2). The other versions read the singular God and soften the walking. The LXX has εὐηρέστησεν Ενωχ τῷ θεῷ, "Enoch was well-pleasing to God," which Heb 11:5 quotes, and Targum Onkelos has "walked in the fear of the LORD." Lowercase here and the capital at v. 24b keep both readings in view. The WPRB keeps "the elohim" (WPRB guide, Divine names).
- Reading↩ Back to the text
Enoch's years are 365, the days of the solar year. 1 Enoch makes him the one who learns the courses of the sun and the 364-day year (chs. 72–82), and Jubilees 4:17 makes him the first to write down the signs of the sky by their months. His entry alone has no "and he died." In v. 23 and v. 31 the verb is singular (וַיְהִי, "and it was") where the other entries have the plural (וַיִּהְיוּ). A verb that stands first may be singular before a plural subject (1:14, יְהִי מְאֹרֹת, "let light-givers be"). English must make "were" agree, so the variation cannot be shown. Lamech's sum in v. 31 is 777, after Lamech of Cain's line swore by seven and seventy and seven (4:24).
- Reading↩ Back to the text
וְאֵינֶנּוּ, "and he was not," is the negative of existence that Jacob uses for a son he believes lost: "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not" (42:36; also 42:13, 32). Rachel weeps for her sons "for they are not" (Jer 31:15). לָקַח "take" is the verb used of Elijah: "Adonai is taking your lord from over your head today" (2 Kgs 2:3, 5, 9–10). It is also the psalmists' hope: "but Elohim will ransom my soul from the hand of Sheol, for he will take me" (Ps 49:16; 73:24). The LXX has οὐχ ηὑρίσκετο, ὅτι μετέθηκεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεός, "he was not found, because God transferred him." Sirach 44:16 says "Enoch pleased the Lord and was transferred, an example of repentance to the generations." Heb 11:5 reads the verse as a man taken "so as not to see death." The rabbinic tradition divides. Gen. Rab. 25:1 reads "he was not" as death: Enoch wavered between righteous and wicked, and Elohim took him while he was righteous (Rashi follows). Manuscripts of Onkelos read both "for the LORD caused him to die" and "did not cause him to die." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan has him go up to the sky and be called Metatron, the great scribe. The Hebrew says only that he was not and that Elohim took him, and the English says no more.
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The versions differ in the numbers of the line. The Samaritan Pentateuch gives Jared, Methuselah and Lamech shorter lives (847, 720, 653 years), so that all three die in the year of the flood. The LXX adds a hundred years to the age at which most of the fathers produce their sons. In much of its tradition Methuselah's 969 years run fourteen years past the flood. Augustine (City of God 15.11, 13) and Jerome (Hebrew Questions on Genesis, at 5:25) take up the problem and prefer the Hebrew. By the Masoretic numbers Methuselah dies in the flood year itself, 1656 years from the creation of Adam. b. Sanhedrin 108b takes the "seven days" of 7:10 as the mourning for him. The Masoretic numbers are printed. The LXX version keeps its own (52).
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The name נֹחַ sounds like נוּחַ "rest" (8:4, "the ark rested"). Lamech explains it by another root, נחם, "comfort": זֶה יְנַחֲמֵנוּ. The sound is shared and the root is not, as with Cain and "acquire" (4:1). Genesis Rabbah 25:2 observes that the name and its reason do not fit: it should say either Noah with "he will give us rest," or Nahman with "he will comfort us." The LXX makes them fit, διαναπαύσει ἡμᾶς, "he will give us rest," as though from נוּחַ. English has no pun that keeps "Noah" and the home gloss "comfort" (17), and no English rendering carries the sound (24), so the pun stays in this note. The root returns at once. At 6:6–7 Adonai "was sorry" (וַיִּנָּחֶם, the niphal of נחם) that he had made the human. At 6:8 Noah, נֹחַ, finds חֵן "favour," the same two letters reversed. This is also the chapter's only divine name. The narrator says Elohim throughout, and Lamech speaks the name Adonai, as Eve did at 4:1.
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Expected: "our work" (KJV, RSV)
מַעֲשֶׂה is the noun of עָשָׂה "make / do": what is done or made, a deed or a thing made ("the deed of his hands," Ps 19:2). "Work" is the settled gloss of מְלָאכָה (2:2–3), so the reverse concordance gives מַעֲשֶׂה "deed." The phrase takes up the sentence on the man in 3:17–19. There the ground was "cursed… for your sake; in pain you shall eat it." Here "the pain of our hands" comes "from the ground that Adonai cursed." עִצָּבוֹן "pain" is held through all three of its occurrences in the Bible (3:16, 17; 5:29), and אָרַר "curse" with it (37). The deed is the labour of the hands, not a wrong done. The parallel "and from the pain of our hands" fixes the sense.
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Expected: "five hundred years old" (KJV, RSV)
בֶּן־חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה, "a son of five hundred years," is the Hebrew idiom of age (7:6; 11:10; 12:4; 17:1, 24–25). The home gloss of בֵּן is held: a man is the son of his years as he is the son of his father. The idiom is concrete (39). This is the idiom's first occurrence. The KJV and RSV turn it into English "old," and the word "son" disappears from the verse.
Tables
Names in Genesis 5 (ruling 18; reached from ).
| WPB | Hebrew | Meaning and reference |
|---|---|---|
| Adam | אָדָם Adam | The common noun "human" (H120) as a name: given to the kind in 5:2 ("Human"), borne by one man from 5:3 (ruling 72). Also a place, "at Adam" (Josh 3:16) |
| Seth | שֵׁת Shet | Explained by שָׁת "has set" (4:25) |
| Enosh | אֱנוֹשׁ Enosh | The noun "mortal" (32; Ps 8:5) |
| Kenan | קֵינָן Qenan | From the root of Cain (קַיִן, 4:1); LXX Καιναν. The LXX has a second Kainan, between Arpachshad and Shelah (11:12; Luke 3:36) |
| Mahalalel | מַהֲלַלְאֵל Mahalalʾel | "Praise of El" (הָלַל); compare Mehujael (4:18) |
| Jared | יֶרֶד Yered | "Descent," from יָרַד "go down"; 1 Enoch 6:6 and Jubilees 4:15 date the descent of the Watchers to his days |
| Enoch | חֲנוֹךְ Ḥanokh | From חָנַךְ "dedicate, train"; walked about with the elohim (5:22, 24); 365 years. Also Cain's son (4:17) |
| Methuselah | מְתוּשֶׁלַח Metushelaḥ | Perhaps "man of the javelin" (שֶׁלַח, Joel 2:8); compare Methushael (4:18). The longest life in the Bible, 969 years |
| Lamech | לֶמֶךְ Lemekh | Unexplained; also Cain's descendant (4:18–24) |
| Noah | נֹחַ Noaḥ | Sounds like נוּחַ "rest"; explained by נחם "comfort" (5:29); see the note there |
| Shem | שֵׁם Shem | The noun "name" (5:2, 3, 29); "let us make for ourselves a name" (11:4); "I will make your name great" (12:2) |
| Ham | חָם Ḥam | Perhaps "hot" (חַם); "the tents of Ham" is Egypt (Ps 78:51; 105:23) |
| Japheth | יֶפֶת Yefet | Played on by יַפְתְּ "may Elohim enlarge" (9:27) |
Words in this chapter (61)
| Word | Gloss | Instead of | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| דְּמוּת | likeness | likeness | Abstract of דָּמָה "be like" (Ezek 1:5, 26, the visions "a likeness of"); 5:1, 3 pairs it with צֶלֶם again |
| אָדָם | Adam | Adam | The personal name from its first unambiguous use at 5:3 (72, 86). Before it, OSHB's name tag on the anarthrous word (3:17; 4:25) is read as the common noun, "man" under ruling 11; 5:1a is "human" (crux). The tag stays on the source token |
| תּוֹלְדוֹת | producings | generations | Verbal noun of יָלַד, whose hiphil is "produce" (20), so the headings of Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2) and the genealogies' "produced" share one English root. Here the skies and the land have producings, as a father has. |
| אֱלֹהִים | Elohim (singular agreement); elohim (plural or none) | God | Transliterated; capital by agreement, not by referent (Ps 82:1, 6; Exod 21:6). The gate checks agreement on every occurrence |
| עָשָׂה | make / do | make / do | Split by construction: "make" with an object made, "do" with an act or "thus." Declared in the guide §3.4 |
| בָּרָא | create | create | Only Elohim is ever its subject. Kept apart from עָשָׂה "make" (v. 7, 16, 25) and יָצַר "shape" (2:7), so the chapter's three verbs of making stay three |
| אָדָם | human | man | Core table; always the common noun: the personal name is H121 "Adam," from 5:3 (72, 86). The pun on אֲדָמָה (v. 25 → 2:7) is lost; note at 2:7 |
| סֵפֶר | scroll | book | Anything written, in the form of a roll: letter (2 Sam 11:14), deed (Jer 32:10), bill of divorce (Deut 24:1), scroll (Exod 17:14; 32:32). "Book" brings in the codex (39). מְגִלָּה keeps "roll" (Jer 36:2, KJV "roll of a book"). See the note at 5:1 |
| יוֹם | day | day / night | |
| קָרָא | call | call | קָרָא לְ "call to [something] [a name]" keeps the Hebrew construction |
| בָּרַךְ | bless | bless | Core table |
| שֵׁם | name | name | The naming of 2:19–20 and the play on names through Gen 3–5 |
| זָכָר | male | male / female | |
| נְקֵבָה | female | male / female | |
| צֶלֶם | icon | image | A cult statue (Num 33:52; 2 Kgs 11:18; Ezek 7:20; Amos 5:26), the thing the second commandment forbids: the human is the one licit icon. The LXX εἰκών supplies the cognate because the Hebrew gloss is open (5), and English has "icon" in the living sense of a representing image; cf. 1 Cor 11:7; Col 1:15 |
| שְׁלֹשִׁים | thirty | thirty | |
| שֵׁת | Seth | Seth | The pun with שָׁת (4:25). Names table |
| יָלַד | bear (qal); produce (hiphil); be born (niphal, pual) | bring forth / beget | Wave lexicon; split by stem (20). The hiphil is the verb of the genealogies (5:3–32) and of תּוֹלְדוֹת "producings" (2:4) |
| חָיָה | live (qal); keep alive (piel, hiphil) | live | The same verb as H2425 "live," which Strong's files apart for some qal forms (5:5 אֲשֶׁר חַי); one gloss for both. "And Adam lived" (5:3) is this id. Kept apart from חַי "living; living thing" |
| מֵאָה | hundred | hundred | Singular "a hundred," plural forms "hundred" (eight hundred). Written in the Hebrew order of its number (see the note at 5:3) |
| שָׁנָה | year | year | |
| הָיָה | be; become (with לְ) | be | "Let light be," "and it was thus"; the LXX version has γίνομαι "come to be". With לְ of the result, "become" by construction: "became a living soul" (2:7), "become a flood" (9:15) |
| בַּת | daughter | daughter | Plural "daughters"; "sons and daughters" (5:4–30). Also a city's dependent villages (Num 21:25) and, in apposition, a city personified, "daughter Zion" (Lam 1:6). |
| בֵּן | son | son / children | Wave lexicon. The plural is also children of both sexes; the gloss is held, and "sons and daughters" (5:4) are named apart. See the note at 3:16 |
| אַחַר | after (time); behind (place) | after | Split by construction (20): of time with an infinitive or a noun ("after he produced Seth," 5:4); of place ("behind the wilderness," Exod 3:1) |
| שְׁמֹנֶה | eight | eight | |
| מוּת | die | die | "Dying you shall die" (2:17); the serpent's "not dying shall you die" (3:4); "and he died" (5:5–31) |
| תֵּשַׁע | nine | nine | |
| חָיָה | live | live | The verb to the adjective and noun חַי "living; living thing," kept apart from them by part of speech: "and live to the age" (3:22); "and Adam lived" (5:3) |
| חָמֵשׁ | five | five | |
| אֱנוֹשׁ | Enosh | Enos / Enosh | The noun אֱנוֹשׁ "mortal" (H582; 32) as a name. Names table |
| שֶׁבַע | seven | seven | |
| שְׁנַיִם | two | two | |
| עָשָׂר | -teen (in 11–19) | -teen | Only in compound numbers 11–19; printed as the English teen numeral ("twelve," "fifteen," 5:8, 10). See the note at 5:3 |
| תִּשְׁעִים | ninety | ninety | |
| קֵינָן | Kenan | Cainan / Kenan | From the root of Cain. Names table |
| מַהֲלַלְאֵל | Mahalalel | Mahalaleel / Mahalalel | Names table |
| שִׁבְעִים | seventy | seventy | |
| אַרְבָּעִים | forty | forty | Written in the Hebrew order of its number (see the note at 5:3) |
| עֶשֶׂר | ten | ten | The cardinal standing alone (5:14). In the numbers 11–19 the form is עָשָׂר (H6240) |
| שִׁשִּׁים | sixty | sixty | |
| יֶרֶד | Jared | Jared | Names table |
| חֲנוֹךְ | Enoch | Enoch | Names table |
| מְתוּשֶׁלַח | Methuselah | Methuselah | Names table |
| שָׁלוֹשׁ | three | three | |
| הָלַךְ | go (qal); walk about (hithpael) | go | Split by stem. Kept apart from יָצָא "go out" and עָלָה "go up." The hithpael is Adonai Elohim "walking about" in the garden (3:8) and Enoch and Noah walking with Elohim (5:22, 24; 6:9) |
| לָקַח | take | take | The verb of 2:21–23 ("taken from the man," "from Man this one was taken") and 3:19, 23 ("from it you were taken"); 5:24, "Elohim took him" |
| אַיִן | there is none; is not | not | The negative of existence, carried as a clause ("human there was none") |
| שְׁמֹנִים | eighty | eighty | |
| לֶמֶךְ | Lamech | Lamech | Names table |
| יָד | hand | hand | Wave lexicon. Also power and agency ("from the hand of," 9:5); to "send the hand" is to reach for or against (3:22; 22:10) |
| מַעֲשֶׂה | deed | work | The noun of עָשָׂה "make / do": what is done or made. "Work" is מְלָאכָה's (2:2–3). "From our deed and from the pain of our hands" (5:29); "the deed of his hands" (Ps 19:2). See the note at 5:29 |
| אָמַר | say | say | |
| אָרַר | curse; passive participle cursed | curse | Wave lexicon. The formula אָרוּר "cursed is…" (3:14, 17; 4:11; 9:25; Deut 27:15–26), the counterpart of בָּרוּךְ. In Gen 3 the serpent and the ground are cursed; the man and the woman are not |
| אֲדָמָה | ground | earth | Kept apart from אֶרֶץ "land" (v. 1) and עָפָר "dust" (2:7); the word the human (אָדָם) is shaped from and named for (2:7; 3:19) |
| נָחַם | comfort (piel) | comfort | "This one shall comfort us" (5:29); "Comfort, comfort my people" (Isa 40:1); The niphal (6:6–7, Adonai "was sorry") is to be fixed at Gen 6; see the report |
| עִצָּבוֹן | pain | sorrow / pain, toil | Three times: the woman's (3:16), the man's (3:17), "the pain of our hands" (5:29), one gloss for the chain. The verb עָצַב is "be pained" (6:6). See the note at 3:16 |
| נֹחַ | Noah | Noah | Sounds like נוּחַ "rest"; explained by נחם "comfort" (5:29). Names table |
| יֶפֶת | Japheth | Japheth | The pun of 9:27. Names table |
| חָם | Ham | Ham | Names table |
| שֵׁם | Shem | Shem | The noun שֵׁם "name" (H8034) as a name. Names table |