"
Generations of Adam" is a concept in in the
Hebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. It is typically taken as name of Adam's line of descent going through
SethSeth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...
. Another view equates the generations of Adam with material about a second line of descent starting with Cain in Genesis 4, while Genesis 5 is taken as the "generations of Noah".
Seth and Cain
Both the Cainite and the Sethite lines begin with Adam. The Sethite line in Genesis 5 extends to Noah and his three sons. The Cainite line in Genesis 4 runs to Naamah. The seventh generation
LamechLamech is a character in the genealogies of Adam in the Book of Genesis. He is the sixth generation descendant of Cain ; his father was named Methusael, and he was responsible for the "Song of the Sword." He is also noted as the first polygamist mentioned in the Bible, taking two wives, Ada and...
descended from Cain is described as the father of
JabalJabal is an individual mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in .- Family :Jabal was a descendant of Cain, the son of Lamech and Adah, and the brother of Jubal, half-brother of Tubal-cain and Naamah...
and
JubalJubal is an individual mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in .- Family :Jubal was a descendant of Cain, the son of Lamech and Adah, and the brother of Jabal, and half-brother of Tubal-cain and Naamah...
(from his first wife Adah) and
Tubal-cainTubal-cain is an individual mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in . He was a descendant of Cain, the son of Lamech and Zillah, and the brother of Naamah.-Name:...
and Naamah (from his second wife, Zillah). The ninth generation
LamechLamech is a character in the genealogies of Adam in the Book of Genesis.- Family :Lamech is the eighth generation descendant of Seth , the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah , in the genealogy of Seth in Genesis 5. In Genesis 5:12-25, Lamech was a son of Methuselah who was a grandson of...
, descended from Seth, is described as the father of
NoahNoah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
.
| Sethite | Cainite |
| Seth Seth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...
|
-- |
| Enos |
-- |
| Cainan Cainan can refer to either:*A variant of the name Kenan in the generations of Adam, the lists of antediluvian patriarchs given in the Torah;*Cainan, the son of the Arpachshad mentioned in most manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke 3:36...
|
Cain |
| Mahalaleel Mahalalel, Mahalaleel, or Mihlaiel Hebrew מהללאל was a patriarch named in the Hebrew Bible.- Family :Mahalalel was a son of Kenan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam in the Old Testament of the Bible...
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Enoch Enoch, son of Cain, , after whom Cain named the first city he founded, is not the same as the Enoch who was an ancestor of Noah.This Enoch was a son of Cain, grandson of Adam, and father of Irad....
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| Jared Jared, or Jered, in Judeo-Christian religious belief was a fifth-generation descendant of Adam and Eve.- Tradition :...
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Irad Irad was the son of Enoch in the biblical account of the descendants of Cain, listed at Genesis 4:18....
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| Enoch Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
|
Mehujael |
| Methuselah Methuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 , at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood...
|
Methusael |
| Lamech (father of Noah) Lamech is a character in the genealogies of Adam in the Book of Genesis.- Family :Lamech is the eighth generation descendant of Seth , the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah , in the genealogy of Seth in Genesis 5. In Genesis 5:12-25, Lamech was a son of Methuselah who was a grandson of...
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Lamech |
| Noah Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
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The Sethite line also gives ages at fatherhood and at death. In the Masoretic text, ages at death range from 777 (Lamech) to 969 (Methuselah), placing the text in the category of longevity narratives. The
Septuagint and
Samaritan PentateuchThe Samaritan Pentateuch, sometimes called Samaritan Torah, , is a version of the Hebrew language Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, used by the Samaritans....
differ somewhat in the ages given; in the
Septuagint, the age at fatherhood is often 100 years later than that in the Masoretic text, extending the genealogy by several centuries.
The 2nd-century BC Book of Jubilees, regarded as non-canonical except by
Coptic ChristianityThe Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the official name for the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, when it took a different...
, gives the wives' names for the Sethite line:
| Husband | Wife |
| Seth |
Azura |
| Enos |
Noam |
| Cainan |
Mualaleth |
| Mahalaleel |
Dinah |
| Jared |
Baraka |
| Enoch |
Edna |
| Methuselah |
Edna |
| Lamech |
Betenos |
| Noah |
Emzara |
Interpretations
The word "generations",
toldoth, appears 11 times in Genesis, providing a natural division of the book into nine to twelve narratives.
Because Methuselah has the oldest age appearing in the bible, the name "
MethuselahMethuselah is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Extra-biblical tradition maintains that he died on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 , at the age of 969, seven days before the beginning of the Great Flood...
" has become a general reference to
longevityThe word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
.
The enigmatic description given to
EnochEnoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
is that he "walked with God, and was not", suggesting bodily translation to heaven and leading to speculation and lore such as the 2nd-century BC
Book of EnochThe Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...
, which is canonical in
Coptic ChristianityThe Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the official name for the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, when it took a different...
.
| Name | Etymological translation |
| Adam |
"Man", masculine of adamah, "earth", "ground". |
| Seth |
"Appointed [one]" , from shiyth. |
| Enos |
"Mortal frailty", from anash, "sick", "frail", "mournful", "melancholy", "wicked". By analogy to anashim (cf. ben Yehuda, Aramaic Enosh in Daniel), may denote "peoples", alluding to the spreading forth of the population in his day. |
| Qenan |
"Habitation", "possession", "lot" or "Smith"; from primitive root qen, "birdsnest". |
| Mahalal'el |
"God [be] praised", from primitive root "shining forth" and El, "God". |
| Jared |
"Descent", from primitive verb "come down", "prostrate", perhaps alluding to the Watchers that wrongfully descended from heaven among men in his day and led them astray in the Book of Enoch The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...
. |
| Enoch |
"Dedication", "discipling", "teaching", from primitive root meaning "train up". |
| Methuselah |
Two alternative etymologies are suggested:
- "[His] death shall bring to pass", from muth, "death", and shelach, "send forth"; - this translation is uncertain and it is also suggested that the name may come from root words meaning "death" and "to send forth." In this case is taken to be a prophetic reference to the Deluge; and it is notable that Methusaleh is recorded as having died in the same year as the Deluge came [Masoretic text] and described extra-canonically as having died seven days prior to the coming of the Deluge [Rashi]. The idea that Methuselah's death was a prerequisite before the Deluge was sent dates back at least to the Babylonian Targum [Sanhedrin 108]
- "man of the dart", "spear", "sword", from math, "man", and shelach, "sword"; or "man sent forth"; or "from him sent forth", from me-otho, "from him". - this translation is more commonly espoused by modern translators
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| Lamech |
"Captive", "slave", "pauper", as a reversal of the letters in the root Melekh ("king"). Also suggested to mean "Conqueror" or "powerful" by relationship to the same root. |
| Noah |
"Rest", "comfort", from primitive root nuch, "rest". |
Seth to Cain
Form critics consider the two lines as corruptions of one tradition. Both the similarities and the differences between lines are significant and do not admit simple explanation:
| Sethite line | Cainite line |
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(mankind)[cf Adamant]Adamant and similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal. Both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word αδαμας , meaning "untameable"...
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"" (per Septuagint)["" (per Masoretic)] |
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Robert Best suggests that the sequence of Enoch and Mehujael are reversed in Genesis 4 and similarities in the following table suggest a common source.
| Genesis 5 | Genesis 4 |
| Kenan |
Cain |
| Mahalalel |
Mehujael |
| Jared |
Irad |
| Enoch |
Enoch |
| Methuselah |
Methushael |
| Lamech |
Lamech |
Seth to Sumer
Both the Sethite line and the antediluvian
Sumerian king listThe Sumerian King List is an ancient manuscript originally recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of "official" kingship...
have ten names prior to a flood and speak of exceptional longevity that significantly diminishes after the flood. However, tentative homologies between the names on the two lists, besides possibly Adamu (Adapa) and Adam, are matters of dispute.