Genesis 5 · The Lantern

The Descendants of Adam

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day God created man, in the likeness of God he made him.

The reason for this break in the narrative [in the description of the genealogies to the flood] was, I take it, that the writer, as though bidden by God, was unwilling to have the beginning of world chronology reckoned from the earthly city (that is, from the generation of Cain), and so he deliberately went back to Adam for a new beginning.

This is the book of the generation of mankind. In the day that God created Adam, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them. And he blessed them and called his name Adam in the day when he created them. And Adam lived 230 years and begat a son in his likeness and after his image, and called his name Sêth.

This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God: He created them male and female, and He blessed them. This is the book of the first creation of man, which God made in His likeness, that he might be perpetually good, immortal, and happy by participation in His goodness.

Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and called their name Man in the day they were created.

And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and he fathered a son in his likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.

Christ is the invisible image of the invisible God, just as according to the Scripture narrative we say that the image of Adam was his son Seth. It is written thus: "And Adam begot Seth after his own image and after his own kind." This image preserves the unity of nature and substance common to a father and a son.

(Verse 3.) Adam lived for two hundred and thirty years, and he begot in his own image and likeness, and he called his name Seth. It should be known that until the Flood, where it is said that somebody is said to have begotten two hundred and something years in our codices, in the Hebrew it has one hundred years and the rest that follow.

Adam lived for one hundred and thirty years, and he begot a son in his own likeness and image, and he named him Seth. Adam indeed was created in the likeness and image of God, because he was made immortal in both soul and body.

And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years — and he died.

And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and he fathered Enosh.

And Seth lived after he fathered Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years — and he died.

And Enosh lived ninety years, and he fathered Kenan.

And Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan eight hundred and fifteen years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years — and he died.

And Kenan lived seventy years, and he fathered Mahalalel.

And Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years — and he died.

And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and he fathered Jared.

And Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years — and he died.

God Takes Up Enoch

And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and he fathered Enoch.

And Jared lived after he fathered Enoch eight hundred years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years — and he died.

And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and he fathered Methuselah.

And Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah three hundred years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

And Enoch walked with God — and he was not, for God took him.

(86) What is the meaning of the expression, "He was not found because God translated him?" (#Ge 5:24). In the first place, the end of virtuous and holy men is not death but a translation and migration, and an approach to some other place of abode.

Some say that while Adam was looking [at Enoch] God transported him to paradise lest Adam think that Enoch was killed as was Abel and so be grieved. This was so that Adam might also be comforted by this just son of his and that he might know that for all who were like this one, whether before death or after the resurrection, paradise would be their meeting place.

The mind is so caught up in this way that the hearing no longer takes in the voices outside and images of the passerby no longer come to sight and the eye no longer sees the mounds confronting it or the gigantic objects rising up against it. No one will possess the truth and the power of all this unless he has direct experience to teach him.

From Methuselah to Noah

And Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and he fathered Lamech.

(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.

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.

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." Lamech foresaw in prophetic spirit what kind of person his son would be, of what great virtue he would be, and that in his days the nation of…

And Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years — and he died.

And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and he fathered a son.

And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us from our work and from the pain of our hands, out of the ground that the LORD has cursed.”

And Lamech lived after he fathered Noah five hundred and ninety-five years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years — and he died.

And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis5

The Descendants of Adam

God Takes Up Enoch

From Methuselah to Noah