1. Adam, the first man, was 230 years of age when he fathered Seth. He lived an additional 700 years, until the 135th year of Mahalalel.
2. Seth fathered Enosh when he was 205 years of age. He lived an additional 707 years, until the 20th year of Enoch [g116].
3. Enosh fathered Kenan when he was 190 years of age. He lived an additional 715 years, until the 53rd year of Methuselah.
4. Kenan fathered Mahalalel when he was 170 years of age. He lived an additional 740 years, until the 81st year of Lamech.
5. Mahalalel fathered Jared when he was 165 years of age. He lived an additional 730 years, until the 48th year of Noah.
6. Jared fathered Enoch when he was 162 years of age. He lived an additional 800 years, until the 280th years of Noah.
7. Enoch fathered Methusaleh when he was 165 years of age. He lived an additional 200 years, until he was translated in the 33rd year of Lamech.
8. Methusaleh fathered Lamech [g117] when he was 167 years of age. He lived an additional 802 years. Thus he would have survived the flood by 22 years. However, [g118] in other versions he died before the flood having lived an additional 782 years [after Lamech's birth] [g119].
9. Lamech fathered Noah when he was 188 years of age. He lived an additional 535 years. Lamech predeceased his father Methusaleh in the 535th year of Noah [g120].
10. Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth when he was 500 years of age. This was 100 years before the flood, which occurred in the 600th year of Noah. He lived an additional 350 years after the flood, until the 83rd year of Eber. [Thus] according to the Septuagint, the full total is 2,242 years [for the period from Adam to the death of Noah].
Now for the Hebrew version of the Jews.
[25] The Jewish [Hebrew Version]
1. Adam fathered Seth when he was 130 years of age. He lived an additional 800 years, until the 56th year of Lamech [g121].
2. Seth fathered Enosh when he was 105 years of age. He lived an additional 807 years, until the 168th year of Lamech.
3. Enosh fathered Kenan when he was 90 years of age. He lived an additional 815 years, until the 84th year of Noah.
4. Kenan fathered Mahalalel when he was 70 years of age. He lived an additional 840 years, until the 179th year of Noah.
5. Mahalalel fathered Jared when he was 65 years of age. He lived an additional 830 years, until the 234th year of Noah.
6. Jared fathered Enoch when he was 162 years of age. He lived an additional 800 years, until the 366th year of Noah.
7. Enoch fathered Methusaleh when he was 65 [g122] years of age. He lived an additional 300 years until he was translated in the 113th year of Lamech.
8. Methusaleh fathered Lamech when he was 187 years of age. He lived an additional 782 years, until the [time of the] flood.
9. Lamech fathered Noah when he was 182 years of age. He lived an additional 595 years, dying five years before the flood.
10. Noah fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth when he was 500 years of age, 100 years before the flood. The flood occurred in the 600th year of Noah. He lived an additional 350 years after the flood, until the 58th year of Abraham. The total sum [for this version] is 1656 years.
There is a 586 year discrepancy between this version and the Septuagint. The difference [g123] is in the number of years each man from Adam to Noah lived before fathering children. [The versions agree] only for the times of Jared, Methusaleh, and Lamech. This circumstance suggests to us that the text which we use [i.e. the Septuagint] is the best. From the longer period assigned to Jared and his descendants [in the Hebrew version] it is clear that the periods of their predecessors, similarly, should be the same as in the Septuagint version. By adding one hundred years the discrepancy observed between the later and more recent generations in the Hebrew and the Septuagint versions is eliminated. [We might suggest] the possibility that the descendants [g124] lived longer than their ancestors. Yet for each man's life, the number of years before his son was born, and the number of year that he lived afterwards, added together, produces the same total in the Hebrew version and the Septuagint. It is only the number of years before their sons were born which is shorter in the Jewish copies. Therefore we suspect that this was something which the Jews did. They made bold to shorten the time before the fathering of children to encourage early marriages. For if these ancestors lived such long lives, marrying early and fathering children early [g125] as their version clearly states, who would not want to emulate them by marrying early?
The Hebrew version of the Samaritans.
[26] The Samaritan [Hebrew Version]