The descendants of Adam
1This is the account of Adam’s descendants. When God created Adam he made him in the likeness of God; 2male and female he created them; he blessed them and called them Man on the day they were created.
3Adam was a hundred and thirty years old when he became the father of a son born in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4After the birth of Seth, Adam lived for eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters. 5Altogether Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.
6When Seth was a hundred and five, he became the father of Enosh. 7After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years. He had other sons and daughters. 8Altogether Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years; then he died.
9When Enosh was ninety years old, he became the father of Kenan. 10After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and he had other sons and daughters. 11Altogether Enosh lived nine hundred and five years; then he died.
12When Kenan was seventy years old, he became father of Mahalalel. 13After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years, and he had other sons and daughters. 14Altogether Kenan lived nine hundred and ten years; then he died.
15When Mahalalel was sixty-five, he became the father of Jared. 16After that, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had other sons and daughters. 17All the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; then he died. 18When Jared was a hundred and sixty-two, he became the father of Enoch. 19After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 20Altogether Jared lived nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died.
21When Enoch was sixty-five, he became the father of Methuselah. 22After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23In all Enoch lived three hundred and sixty-five years. 24After Enoch had walked with God, he disappeared because God took him up.
25 ① When Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven, he became the father of Lamech. 26After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27In all Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died.
28Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two when he became a father of a son 29and named him Noah, for he said, “He will console us in the hard toil and suffering of our hands, because of the soil that was cursed by Yahweh. 30After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and he had other sons and daughters. 31In all Lamech lived seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.
32When Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.
- Gen 5,25 Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years! It was absolutely essential to give the idea of a long stretch of time from the beginning of the world up to the ancestors of the people of God, and names could not be multiplied. Just as the Babylonians before the flood had placed eleven kings with a fabulous life duration, the Israelites needed a few Methuselah. Besides they held that their distant ancestors had been better than themselves and for that reason had been rewarded with a very long life. In this legendary list of the ancestors of humankind appears the name of Enoch the just one, whom God took up to heaven just as he did with Elijah (2 Kgs 2).
