This should be the most extensive examination of Gen. 5 available, where you will be able to see every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 5:

Introduction

         vv.     1–2           Introduction to the Genealogy of Adam

         vv.     3–5           The Life of Adam

         vv.     6–8           The Life of Seth

         vv.     9–11         The Life of Enosh

         vv.    12–14         The Life of Kenan

         vv.    15–17         The Life of Mahalalel

         vv.    18–20         The Life of Jared

         vv.    21–24         The Life and Translation of Enoch

         vv.    25–27         The Life of Methuselah

         vv.    28–31         The Life of Lamech, who Fathers Noah

         v.       32            Noah and His Three Sons

Addendum

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

         Introduction         Why Did God the Holy Spirit Record Genesis 5, a Genealogy?

         v.       1              “These are the generations of...”

         v.       1              Adam, Created in the Likeness of God

         v.      24              The Explanation of Jude 1:14–15

         v.      24              The American English Bible: A Contradiction?

         v.      27              The American English Bible asks What About the Long Lives?

         v.      27              Summing up the Longevity Digression

         v.      29              The Possible Authors of Sections of Genesis

         v.      31              The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Genealogy of Adam to Noah

         v.      31              The Gospel in the Line of Adam (a graphic)

         v.      31              Enoch, Noah and Jesus

         v.      32              The Timeline Set up by the Bible

         v.      32              A More Accurate Chart of the Lifespans of Noah’s Ancestors

         Addendum          The Parallel Passages

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 5

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Genesis 5

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An Introduction to Genesis 5

I ntroduction: Gen. 5:1–2 sounds like the beginning of a new section, perhaps by a new author. We do not know when the oral tradition stopped and when these things began to be written down. There is no reason to think that man was not capable of writing until centuries later. Man has been a genius from the first man and has always been able to write likely from the time that this was needed, although we are not told specifically when.

There is no reason why we ought to assume that there was a need for writing at the very beginning—man was very verbal, but he was also probably very smart. It is likely that nearly every man remember everything that was said to him over the period of his life, and that he could recall whatever it was that he needed to recall. So, if Enosh and Kenan entered into some kind of an agreement, this contract did not need to be written down and notarized, because both men were there, and they both understood the terms of the contract, and each man heard and recalled what the terms of the contract were.

Gen. 5 is the first lengthy genealogy, and a chapter that most people skip over mentally if they read the Bible through in a one-year (or, whatever) program. The words of this chapter barely touch your brain, even if you try to read it, and they are gone 2 seconds after your eyes move on to the next verse. The logical question is, why Gen. 5?

So far, we have seen two genealogies—Adam and Eve and their family has been mentioned; and then the Cainian line was followed for a few generations. It is reasonable to suppose that someone from that era, like Seth, for instance, or Enoch, of this chapter, recorded, in some way, the first 4 chapters of Genesis. It is my belief that men in that era had great memories, and memorizing the first 4 chapters of Genesis would have been nothing to them.

However, this chapter is very different from the previous genealogies. The genealogies of Gen. 4 could have been (mentally) recorded by a contemporary, looking forward. However, Gen. 5 had to be (mentally) recorded by Noah or Shem. Families in the United States, in the 1700's and 1800's typically had 10 or 12 children in a family, with 1 or 2 or 3 of them dying young. These were by men and women with a lifespan of maybe 50 or 60. The people of Gen. 5 lived for 900+ years. They were fertile probably from age 20 or so on up to age 500 at least. Therefore, their families must have been enormous. Having 50 children does not strike me as being something our of the ordinary, although there is certainly nothing recorded to indicate that. But, the point I am trying to make is, there is a particular line followed in this chapter, from Adam to Noah; if you follow the male line all the way back, then there is only one progression, one set of forefathers, and they are recorded here. Therefore, this chapter is likely recorded by Noah or Shem. Shem knew his father Noah. He knew his father’s father Lamech. He knew the father of his father’s father, who is Methuselah, and so on and so forth. Seth both knew these men personally and he knew the line by heart (along with the numbers), which is not terrifically difficult, particularly for men of that era.

In this chapter, we are going to follow the line of salvation from Adam to Noah, and you might be expecting that this would be the most boring thing to study ever—almost one entire chapter of a genealogy. Admittedly, there are going to be almost 20 verses which are very repetitive, but with different numbers and different people’s names. However, you’re going to be surprised as to what we’ll find hidden in this chapter.

There are two things to catch the attention of the reader in this chapter of Genesis: the translation of Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and the meaning of Noah’s name (Gen. 5:29). The latter item makes us stop and think—should we have been looking at all of these names and what they mean?

Sometime after Noah, man’s lifespan and, logically, his mental capabilities also degenerated. There was probably a time when man knew, at the very least, the Scriptures of God. However, somewhere between Abraham (circa 2100 b.c.) and Moses (circa 1440 b.c.), I suspect, God’s Word began to be written down (God tells Moses to write down the laws which He gives him in Ex. 34:27).

V. 25 carries with it an explanation as to why Seth was so important to Adam and Eve (Adam again knew his wife and she gave birth to a son. She called his name Seth, for [she said] “Elohim has appointed to me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”).

Many believe that Moses collected this source material and edited it and recorded all of it under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, meaning what Moses wrote down was definitely inspired. We do not have to imagine Moses as sitting down as a secretary under God the Holy Spirit and writing down word for word as the Holy Spirit dictated. There is no indication of that. In Exodus, when God delivers the law, that is a matter of strict dictation. The fact that Moses used source material or recorded and edited from source material does not make the writings less inspired. What Moses does in Deuteronomy is a dramatic change from the previous 3 books. He gives a sermon (actually several) tying everything together for the Jews under his command, preparing them to go into the Land of Promise without him, and, at some point, both he and his people recognize that he is actually speaking the Word of God, even though it is not being dictated to him.

Dr. Luke, in his introduction to his gospel, indicates that this account was a result of compiling information from several sources. His source material may or may not have been inspired, but the resultant gospel is inspired. That is, as we have studied, God the Holy Spirit recorded through Dr. Luke and through Moses exactly what He wanted to communicate to man, i.e., God's complete and connected thought to mankind in such a way that Dr. Luke's and Moses' personalities, vocabularies, experiences, trains of thought and literary styles remained intact, so that the very words of their writings were simultaneously the words of God and the words of man. On the other hand, this does not mean that the Law may be separated into four basic authors who wrote centuries after the exodus, each identified by the frequency of the use of the different names of God. That is liberal tripe which has been overlaid on the Scripture, taking into account several pre-existing prejudices of the creators of this theory. However, just because their concept is not Biblical, this does not mean that we must retreat to the other end of the spectrum and claim that Moses was the original author of all the portions of Genesis. He was a brilliant man whose authorship is , in Scripture, continually attributed to the latter four books of the law, but never to Genesis; although tradition places him as the author of Genesis. Therefore, he is likely the editor but not necessarily the original author of Genesis. In this chapter and in subsequent chapters, we will follow the line of Adam for at least one millennium and perhaps even two.

We have left Cain's generations with Lamech at this point and have picked up with Adam's progeny. . The human and legal line of Christ will proceed from Adam through Seth and through Noah into the post deluvian civilization. Why did we stop with Lamech's family? This could have been all of the information which was available to the author of that portion of the source material to Genesis and it may have been the last of the completely human posterity of Cain. But more of that in chapter 6.

It is possible to see the final couple verses of Gen. 4 as somewhat of a prologue to Gen. 5. They do seem to hang together as a whole. Sometimes, when examining verses word-by-word, we often lose the full impact of the overall passage sometimes. It is hard to see the forest through the trees. However, examine this as a prologue, a title and text:

[Prologue ] And Adam had sexual relations with his wife again and she gave birth to a son, and he [Adam] named him Seth, for [she said] "God has decreed for me another son [seed] in place of Abel; for Cain murdered him." And to Seth —to him also—was born a son; and he called his name Enosh. Then he began [or, was compelled to begin] to call upon the name of the Lord.

This is the Book [or the Record] or the Generations 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 and named them Man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of one in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth. Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years, and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. And Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had sons and daughters. [Gen. 4:25–5:4]

It is often said that the Hebrew manner of writing back then was to take an incident and later embellish upon that incident by quoting a line or so from it. This is definitely a possibility. However, the other explanation is that when additional material was added on to God's word, the manner in which it was done was to often quote a previous verse or two to tie the writings together and then to title this section or to indicate that this is the beginning of a new section.

A problem one would think of at this point is writing material. We have been taught from early on that man began with crude pictographs scrawled on a cave wall and a written language evolved form that. It is certainly possible that some languages developed that way; however, recall that man in the antediluvian civilization was much more intelligent than we are and had likely developed a written language and writing materials and some sort of medium to write upon. Furthermore, this writing medium was not necessarily chunks of clay with indentations but something perhaps more sophisticated, but more perishable. This was likely carried upon the ark and added to as time went one. At some point in time, someone must have realized the significance of the writings and the fragility of the medium and copied it onto something which might lst longer. All of this, needless to say, is pure conjecture, just as Mosaic authorship of the book of Genesis is pure conjecture. However, it is a reasonable theory

This passage begins what sounds like a different author. This merely means that Moses possibly had several manuscripts to work from and chose to copy that which God the Holy Spirit led him to copy (it is my opinion that the books of Genesis and Job were actually in complete form before the time of Moses). Book is the Hebrew word çêpher (סֵפֶר) [pronounced SAY-fur], which means, letter, missive, book, document, writing, scroll, tablet, register. Strong’s #5612 BDB #706. Generations, if you will recall, is the word later translated genesis in the Greek Septuagint. Man was quite interested in genealogy and sought to preserve it as best as he could. There are many people who today do the same thing with their own family line. The primary difference here is, Noah or Seth knew personally nearly every person named in Noah’s genealogy (as we will see when we look at the ages of these men and when who sired when).

It is in this way that God the Holy Spirit preserves for us the line of the humanity of Jesus Christ. Here, man, in the singular, is said to be in the shadow-image or in the likeness of God, as it is written in Gen. 1:27. Paul quotes this in I Cor. 11:7 when dealing with the headware of the man and the woman and the authority of the man. The woman is never said to be created in God's image although the Bible uses the words created and built when it comes to the creation of the woman. Adam and man are the same word in vv. 1–5. Certainly, Moses, or whoever wrote the last copy of these verses became concerned over the time period named. Even the Bible says that man's life span, under normal circumstances, is approximately 70 years (Psalm 90:10). Here is where an author, concerned that no one would believe this, would have downplayed the ages, or eliminated them. However, the ages of man as he began were all close to the millennial mark. We do not know at what age man matured, married and had children. The youngest age named for siring a child was that of Enoch, at age 65 (v. 23). The oldest named is 500 years (v. 30). The child is not the first or the last born necessarily. Adam had other sons and daughters; otherwise, Cain would have been hard pressed to find a wife, as would Seth. Prior to Seth, there were certainly born to Adam and Eve at least two sons and a daughter (and likely far more). God the Holy Spirit records here only the line of Noah, through which will come the line of our Lord.

——————————

Introduction to the Genealogy of Adam

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

The Targum of Onkelos is actually the Pentateuchal Targumim, which are The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel. On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. Take from http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/ and first published in 1862.

Targum of Onkelos                This is the book of the genealogy of Man. In the day that the Lord created man, in the likeness of the Lord He made him.

Latin Vulgate                          This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        This [is] a scroll of generations of Adam in the day created Elohim Adam; in a likeness of Elohim, He made him;...

Peshitta (Syriac)                    THIS is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God created he him.

Septuagint (Greek)                This is the genealogy of men in the day in which God made Adam; in the image of God He made him.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Adam’s Descendants

This is the record of Adam's descendants. On the day God created humanity, he made them to resemble God...

Contemporary English V.       God created men and women to be like himself. He gave them his blessing and called them human beings. This is a list of the descendants of Adam, the first man:... The CEV combined both the first and second verse here.

Easy English                          This is the account about Adam and his family. On the day when God created Adam, he made Adam like God.

Easy-to-Read Version            This is the book about the family of Adam [This name means "man" or "people." It is like the word meaning "earth" or "red clay."]. God made people a copy of himself.... God made people … himself Literally, "He made him in the image of God." See Gen_1:27; 5:3

Good News Bible (TEV)          This is the list of the descendants of Adam. (When God created human beings, he made them like himself.

The Message                          This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God.

New Berkeley Version           This is the roll of Adam’s genealogy: When God created man, He made him in God’s likeness;...

New Century Version             Adam's Family History

This is the family history of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them in his own likeness.

New Life Bible                                                    The Families From Adam To Noah

This is the book of the children of Adam and of their children's children. When God made man, He made him in the likeness of God.

New Living Translation           The Descendants of Adam

This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings,[a] he made them to be like himself.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          This was the scroll of the early [days] of man, when God made Adam, forming him in [His] image.

Ancient Roots Translinear      This accounts the progeny of Adam. In the day God created Adam (humans), he made him in the likeness of God,...

Christian Community Bible     The descendants of Adam

This is the account of Adam’s descendants. When God created Adam he made him in the likeness of God;...

God’s Word™                         This is the written account of Adam and his descendants. When God created humans, he made them in the likeness of God.

New American Bible              Generations: Adam to Noah. [5:1-32] The second of the five Priestly formulas in Part I ("This is the record of the descendants."; see 2:4a; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10) introduces the second of the three linear genealogies in Gn 1-11 (4:17-24 and 11:10-26). In each, a list of individuals (six in 4:17-24, ten in 5:1-32, or nine in 11:10-26) ends in three people who initiate action. Linear genealogies (father to son) in ancient societies had a communicative function, grounding the authority or claim of the last-named individual in the first-named. Here, the genealogy has a literary function as well, advancing the story by showing the expansion of the human race after Adam, as well as the transmission to his descendant Noah of the divine image given to Adam. Correcting the impression one might get from the genealogy in 4:17-24, this genealogy traces the line through Seth rather than through Cain. Most of the names in the series are the same as the names in Cain's line in 4:17-19 (Enosh, Enoch, Lamech) or spelled with variant spellings (Mahalalel, Jared, Methuselah). The genealogy itself and its placement before the flood shows the influence of ancient Mesopotamian literature, which contains lists of cities and kings before and after the flood. Before the flood, the ages of the kings ranged from 18,600 to 36,000 years, but after it were reduced to between 140 and 1,200 years. The biblical numbers are much smaller. There are some differences in the numbers in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.

This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God;... Gn 1:27; Wis 2:23; Sir 17:1; Jas 3:9.

NIRV                                      The Family Line of Adam

Here is the written story of Adam's family line.

When God created man, he made him in his own likeness.

New Jerusalem Bible             This is the roll of Adam's descendants: On the day that God created Adam he made him in the likeness of God.

New Simplified Bible              This is the written genealogy of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.

Revised English Bible            This is the list of Adam’s descendants. On the day when God created human beings he made them in his own likeness.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God made man, he made him in the image of God;...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 The Genealogy of Mankind, who were created as Representatives of God

This is the Birth-Book of men. From the time that God created men, making them to represent God;...

HCSB                                     These are the family records of the descendants of Adam. On the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God;...

NET Bible®                             From Adam to Noah

This is the record [Heb "book" or "roll." Cf. NIV "written account"; NRSV "list."] of the family line [Heb "generations." See the note on the phrase "this is the account of" in Gen_2:4] of Adam.

When God created humankind [The Hebrew text has אָדָם ('adam)], he made them [Heb "him." The Hebrew text uses the third masculine singular pronominal suffix on the accusative sign. The pronoun agrees grammatically with its antecedent אָדָם ('adam). However, the next verse makes it clear that אָדָם is collective here and refers to "humankind," so it is preferable to translate the pronoun with the English plural.] in the likeness of God. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

NIV – UK                                From Adam to Noah

This is the written account of Adam's family line.

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                This is the book (the written record, the history) of the generations of the offspring of Adam. When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.

Concordant Literal Version    This is the scroll of the genealogical annals of Adam: In the day the Elohim created Adam, in the likeness of the Elohim He made him.

Syndein/Thieme                     This . . . {is} the book of the generations of the Adam/man {'adam} {Hebrew style of re-grouping}. In the day that the Elohim/Godhead created out of nothing {bara'} man {'adam - referring to the soul}, in the likeness/essence of 'Elohim'/God {self-consciousness, emotion, volition} He constructed {`asah} {him}. {Note: Before we continue, certain things need to be understood. So this section was written. When subject changes, there is a short summary in the Hebrew style of writing.}.

World English Bible                This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness.

Young’s Updated LT             This is an account of the births of Adam: In the day of God”s preparing man, in the likeness of God He has made him.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: This [is] the scroll [or, record] of the generations of Adam... It appears that this is a second section of Genesis. I believe that this is a different writer, not because of the different style or material, but simply because of this beginning. We are going to examine the generations or the genealogy of Adam. However, these are not the only people to be born from Adam. This is a particular line which leads us in a particular direction. There are many genealogies in the Old Testament, but there is only one set which takes us from Adam to the last person in the Old Testament who is the father of Mary, the mother of the humanity of Jesus Christ.

This genealogy will be picked up by both Matthew and Luke, but with the slight difference that Matthew will begin with Abraham (who is at the end of the next genealogy) and Luke will go all the way to this genealogy. Matthew will follow out the legal line of Jesus Christ (the line which leads to Joseph, His legal father) (Matt. 1:1–16(. Luke will follow out the line of man, which begins here at Adam and runs all the way to Mary (Luke 3:23–38).

Translation: ...in the day when Elohim created Adam:... This means that we are going back all the way to Adam in this genealogy. This genealogy is going to take us from Adam to Noah and Noah’s three sons.

God gave life to Adam; God first built Adam from the chemicals of the ground and then God breathed life into Adam; the latter part of Adam’s creation is in view here. There was no life; there was no soul; and then, there was life and there was a soul.

Translation: ...in the shadow image of Elohim, He made him;... Here the verb means to do, to make, to construct, to prepare, to fashion, to manufacture. God constructed man; God fashioned man; God took the chemicals of the earth and manufactured man. However, here, we are speaking of a shadow image, so God took Adam’s life and manufactured it into a shadow image of God. God is sovereignty; man has self-determination (volition). God is omniscient, man has mentality. God is able to communicate to His creatures; man has vocabulary.

This is the second time that we have a phrase similar to This is the book of the generations of... (the first was in Gen. 2:4—it read these are the generations of). That was the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth; this lists those descended from Adam.

Men have long supposed that Genesis was handed down verbally until man reached a point at which he could write it down. I am fine with that, and we have come to that point. At the end of the previous chapter, we read it was begun to call upon the name of Jehovah. In this chapter, we began with this [is] followed by the Hebrew word for book, missive, document, legal document, or scroll. The noun found here refers to something which is written down. I believe that these two things are tied together. We may look upon Gen. 4:26 as being in a different chapter from Gen. 5:1, but there were no chapters or verses in the original writings. We go directly from then it was begun to call upon the name of Jehovah to this is the book of the generations of Adam... As soon as man was able to record human history, God no longer came to man regularly in what appears to be a daily fellowship and teaching.

The environment of the earth and its population is much different than we have been led to believe. Man was more intelligent, they lived longer, and we know that he had developed tools, musical instruments, houses and cities early on. I would submit to you that mankind, at this point in time, was very technologically advanced, and that the concept of turning their language into the written word was not some giant leap.

Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam: In the day that God created man. He made him in the likeness of God.

One could make the argument that these are the first words of the Bible, so to speak. What came before was later added, or, what came before was in a separate accent, passed on verbally. In any case, someone recognized that it would be a good idea to write these things down. What will follow will be the 10 generations of Adam to Noah. We do not know if Enosh began to write this down or Adam; and that each generation added a few verses; or if Noah wrote down this entire genealogy, seeing that the end of man, apart from him and his family, was near. In any case, bear in mind that, for a period of time, almost all of these men in this chapter were alive at the same time on this earth.

We find a similar introductory statement (These are the generations of...) in Gen. 2:4 5:1 6:9 10:1, 32 11:10, 27 25:12, 19 36:1, 9 37:2. Pastor Robbie Dean calls these the toledoth’s, because the Hebrew word here is: tôwl^edôth (תּוֹלְדֹת) [pronounced tohl^e-DOHTH], which means generations, results, proceedings, genealogies, course of history. Most of the time that we find this statement, what follows is a genealogy. It may be a long or a short genealogy. The use of this word also appear to be a marker throughout the book of Genesis, and it may even point to a new author each time, or a new source.

Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam: In the day that God created man. He made him in the likeness of God.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Male and female He created them, and blessed them in the name of His Word; and He called their name Man in the day they were created.

Latin Vulgate                          He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        ...male and female, He created them. And so He blesses them and so He calls their name Adam in a day of their being created.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Male and female he created them; and God blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Septuagint (Greek)                Male and female He made them, and blessed them; and He called his name Adam, in the day in which He made them.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           ...and created them male and female. He blessed them and called them humanity[a] on the day they were created.

Easy-to-Read Version            God made them male and female. And on the same day he made them, God blessed them and named them “Adam.” Adam This name means "man" or "people." It is like the word meaning "earth" or "red clay."

Good News Bible (TEV)         He created them male and female, blessed them, and named them "Human Beings.")

The Message                         He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.

New Berkeley Version           He created them male and female. He blessed them and called the human at the time of their creation [as distinguished from the animals]..

New Life Bible                        He made them male and female, and brought good to them. And He gave them the name Man when they were made.

New Living Translation           He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them "human."

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          He made both the male and the female and blest them. And in the day that He made them, He called his name Adam.

Ancient Roots Translinear      ...and created male and female. He blessed them, and called Adam's name in the day of the creating.

God’s Word™                         He created them male and female. He blessed them and called them humans when he created them.

New Jerusalem Bible             Male and female he created them. He blessed them and gave them the name Man, when they were created.

New Simplified Bible              He created them male and female and blessed them. When they were created, he called them Mankind.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Male and female he made them, naming them Man, and giving them his blessing on the day when they were made.

Complete Jewish Bible           ...he created them male and female; he blessed them and called them Adam [humankind, man] on the day they were created.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 ...constituting them male and female, giving them His blessing and naming them by the name of Mankind, upon the day of their creation.

New Advent Bible                  He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them "humankind [The Hebrew word used here is אָדָם ('adam).]."

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                He created them male and female and blessed them and named them [both] Adam [Man] at the time they were created.

Concordant Literal Version    Male and female created He them; and blessing them is He, and calling their name Adam in the day they are created.

Context Group Version          ...male and female he created them, and esteemed them, and called their name Man, in the day when they were created.

English Standard Version      Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

New RSV                               Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them `Humankind' [Heb., Adam] when they were created.

Syndein                                  Male and female, He created out of nothing {bara'} them; and blessed them, and called them 'mankind' {'adam - meaning of the ground - category of mankind}, in the day when they were created out of nothing {bara'}. {Note: God created the souls of both Adam and Ishah at the same time out of nothing and stored them in Adam's body before Ishah's body was built.}.

World English Bible                He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Young’s Updated LT             A male and a female He has prepared them, and He blesses them, and calls their name Man, in the day of their being prepared.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: ...He created them male and female. The first part of v. 2 is actually a continuation of v. 1. We know this because v. 2b picks up with the wâw consecutive followed by an imperfect verb, which sets up a series of acts which are laid out in a chronological order. Therefore, this ought to read: This [is] the scroll of the generations of Adam in the day when Elohim created Adam: in the shadow image of Elohim, He made him; He created them male and female. We have the title of the book, followed by an aside, which is a part of the title of the book. The title of the book is, “This is the record of the genealogy of Adam in the day that Elohim created him: in the shadow image of Elohim, He made him; He created them male and female.” God describes more about His creation of man: man was created in God’s shadow image and man was first created male and female.

Translation: He then blessed them... Then we have two wâw consecutives followed by two imperfect verbs, which indicates a logical or chronological series of events. Man was created and then God blessed man. And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth. And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. And God blessed them (Gen. 1:26–28a; MKJV). So the writer of Gen. 5 is going back and summing up the creation of man in a couple of sentences.

Translation: ...and called their name man... Interestingly enough, we do not find that God named man back in Gen. 1 or 2; this is the first allusion to God naming man. God named man after the soil from which man was taken. The word for soil is ʾădâmâh (אֲדָמָה) [pronounced uh-daw-MAWH]. It means ground, soil, dirt, earth, tillable earth, land, surface of the earth. Strong's #127 BDB #9. Quite obviously, the word for man and soil are very similar words. Adam is ʾâdâm (אָדָם) [pronounced aw-DAWM], which means a man, a human being, mankind, Adam. It can be the proper name for Adam, another name for man or a name for the human race, e.g., human being, mankind. Strong's #120 BDB #9. The writer doubles-down on what was once seen to be as a silly notion by some: man made out of the ground? Ridiculous! However, we have discovered that the elements found in the soil could be combined in order to form the body of man. But God first had to breathe life into this clay, then God could bless and name him.

So far, the words to call and name are found in Gen. 2, 3, 4 and 5 (call is also found in Gen. 1). This is an important concept, calling things by a specific name. This is the basis of having a vocabulary, and a vocabulary is necessary for thought. For those of us who enjoyed a Tarzan movie early on a Saturday morning, we recall one of the first things which is established is, “Me Tarzan; you Jane.” When I studied mathematics, one of the most important aspects was assigning a name to various concepts, like a vector bundle or fuzzy sets. In theology, it is equally important to develop concepts and to name those concepts.

One of the many things that R. B. Thieme, Jr. ought to be given credit for is the establishment of a new Christian vocabulary which also advanced theology and the mechanics of the Christian life.

Translation: ...in the day of their being created. Let’s pull the first two verses together: This [is] the scroll [or, record] of the genealogy of Adam in the day when Elohim created Adam: in the shadow image of Elohim, He made him; He created them male and female. He then blessed them and called their name man in the day of their being created. This final phrase simply gives this a time frame; God named man in the day that He was created, even though we are only finding out about this in Gen. 5.

One of the lessons that we should get from this is, God does not reveal everything in the first part of the narrative. From time to time, there are details which are filled in at a later date. We saw this back in Gen. 4, where Cain kills Abel, but we do not find out until the New Testament how he did this (we a sacrificial knife).

Gen 5:2 He [God] created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam [= man, mankind] in the day when they were created.

You will recall that I have previously suggested that only Adam was created on the 6^th day, but he was created in such a way as to be divisible later, when God took his rib and made of this rib, Eve (which was a cloning, although God changed a chromosome). This verse does not really support or contradict that notion. Adam simply means man, human being, mankind (much more frequently intended sense in OT); Adam, first man. However, just so I am being clear, I have not been persuaded fully that Eve was made after the 6^th day of restoration or on the 6^th day of restoration. I realize that one could take this same verse and argue for Adam and Eve being created as separate persons on this 6^th day of restoration as well.

As we have studied previously, the word day in the Hebrew, can simply refer to a period of time, which may be more or less than 24 hours. Therefore, the phrase in the day when they were created does not necessarily refer to a 24-hour period of time.

Also, has been pointed out previously, we do not have to take a cell of every type in order to clone animal (that is, we do not have to take blood cells, skin cells, bone cells, etc.). So, the idea that God is able to take Adam’s rib and make from that Eve, is not scientifically unsound. The fact that Adam’s sons were all born with the correct number of ribs is also genetically sound (for instance, if you cut off your finger and then sire a child, that child will be born with 10 fingers).

At this point, we begin the line of Adam and this will take us all of the way to Noah. In this genealogy, we will actually find out how long the antediluvian age was (ante = before; diluvian = deluge, flood).

As mentioned before, it is not clear to me whether Adam’s age was calculated from his creation or from his fall. However, given that his age is not particularly long, I would lean toward the years given in this chapter as those applicable to Adam as a fallen man. In the Garden of Eden, there was the Tree of Life. Apparently that tree, combined with the way our bodies were designed, made man’s life virtually everlasting.

——————————

The Life of Adam

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat Sheth, who had the likeness of his image and of his similitude: for before had Hava born Kain, who was not like to him; and Habel was killed by his hand. And Kain was cast out; neither is his seed genealogized in the book of the genealogy of Adam. But afterwards there was born one like him, and he called his name Sheth.

Latin Vulgate                          And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so lives Adam thirty and one hundred a year. And so he fathers in his likeness as his image. And so he calls his name Seth.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.

Septuagint (Greek)                And Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begot [a son] after his own form, and after his own image, and he called his name Seth.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son in his image, resembling him, and named him Seth.

Contemporary English V.       When Adam was one hundred thirty, he had a son who was just like him, and he named him Seth. Adam had more children...

Easy English                          When Adam had lived for 130 years, he became the father of a son. The son was like Adam himself. The son was like Adam's own image. Adam called his son Seth.

Easy-to-Read Version            After Adam was 130 years old, he had another son. This son looked just like Adam [he had … like Adam Or, "he fathered a son in his image and likeness." In Hebrew this is like Gen. 1:27; 5:1]. Adam named his son Seth.

Good News Bible (TEV)         When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was like him, and he named him Seth.

The Message                         When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his very spirit and image, and named him Seth.

New Berkeley Version           Adam at 130 got a son in his image, after his likenss and named him Seth.

ew Life Bible                          When Adam had lived 130 years, he gave birth to a son in his own likeness. And he gave him the name Seth.

New Living Translation           When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him-in his very image. He named his son Seth.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Adam was two hundred and thirty years old when he fathered a son - who was just like him and looked like him - that he named Seth.

Ancient Roots Translinear      Adam lived 130 years, and begat a son in his likeness and his image, and called his name Seth.

Beck’s American Translation When Adam was 130, he had a son who was like himself, the image of himself, and he called him Seth.

God’s Word™                         When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, in his own image. He named him Seth.

New American Bible              Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth. [Gen. 5:3-32] 1 Chr 1:1-4; Lk 3:36-38. [Gen. 5:3] Gn 4:25.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Adam had been living for a hundred and thirty years when he had a son like himself, after his image, and gave him the name of Seth:...

Complete Jewish Bible           After Adam lived 130 years he fathered a son like himself and named him Shet.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Adam, when he was one hundred and thirty years old, produced a representative of himself, like his own shadow, and gave him the name of Sheth.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               When Adam had lived 130 years, he begot a son in his likeness after his image, and he named him Seth.

NET Bible®                             When [Heb "and Adam lived 130 years." In the translation the verb is subordinated to the following verb, "and he fathered," and rendered as a temporal clause.] Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth.

The Scriptures 1998              And Aam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Shĕth.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And living is Adam two hundred and thirty years. And begetting is he one in his likeness, according to his image. And calling is he his name Seth.

A Conservative Version         And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot [a son] in his own likeness, according to his image, and called his name Seth.

English Standard Version      When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

exeGeses companion Bible   And Adam lives a hundred and thirty years

and births in his own likeness and after his image;

and calls his name Sheth:...

Syndein                                  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and he caused to bring forth {yalad} . . . one in his own likeness {essence plus Adam's sin - source of the Old Sin Nature}, {a son} after his image {demuth - emphasizes invisible essence from God}; and called his name Sheth/Seth. {Note: Yalad is the Hebrew word for giving birth. It is in the hiphil stem, which is the causative stem in the Hebrew. So, Adam did not have the baby himself, he caused the baby to be born.} {Note: This verse is referring to the fact that the original sin passes from the father to the child - NOT from the mother to the child. Therefore when the 'lamb without spot' came into the world as a perfect sacrifice, He had to be born of a virgin - with no 'sin of the father' at the point of birth. Then to go to the cross perfect, He had to also live a sinless life, which He, the second Adam - the Lord Jesus Christ - did.} {Note: WE are born in the image of Adam NOT the image of God. Adam sinned and now has an Old Sin Nature that is passed on to the child. The child is born without a spiritual relationship with God. Actually though this is the good news! Condemnation has to come before forgiveness (ever forgive someone BEFORE they did something to you?). So, the baby who dies before reaching the point of God consciousness is already condemned and God forgives him and he goes to heaven. If the child reaches the point of God consciousness, then he is IN the angelic conflict - where the battlefield is free will - he will have positive volition and choose for God or have negative volition and deny God.}.

World English Bible                Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Young’s Updated LT             And Adam lives an hundred and thirty years, and begets a son in his likeness, according to his image, and calls his name Seth.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: Adam lived 130 years and fathered [a son]... There are many things that we do not know about Adam’s age; did it begin the day he sinned or the day that God made him? I would guess that it is the latter. So, we have some period of time in the garden where it is just Adam and the woman—perhaps they are there together for 100 years and Adam loves his job and he loves his woman. However, at some point, Adam sinned, and he and the woman were banished from the garden.

In the next verse, we will find out that Adam had other sons and daughters, none of whom are named. One would have been Cain’s wife and one would be the wife of Seth. However, we do not know anything more than this. The way I read the Bible is, Cain was the first male born, Abel the second, and Seth the third. However, there would have been other girls born to Adam and Eve during this time period. Gen. 4:1–2 (MKJV) reads: And Adam knew Eve his wife. And she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from Jehovah. And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. This certainly indicates the order of their birth and suggests, but does not outright state, that Cain is the firstborn. Gen. 4:24 (MKJV) adds: And Adam knew his wife again. And she bore a son, and called his name Seth. For she said, God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, because Cain killed him. The fact that Cain is said to have a wife (Gen. 4:17) and that Adam and the woman have other children (Gen. 5:4) suggests that, at some point in between, there were females born to Adam and the woman. In between Cain and Abel, there could have been another male-child; and this would not impact the second verse cited; but it simply makes more sense that Eve bore Cain, Abel and then Seth, with some female children born in between.

There is a clear recognition of the authority of the male in the way these verses are phrased. Furthermore, the expected Seed of the Woman is expected to be a male. Adam and the woman simply did not realize that would not occur for another 3000–4000 years.

As noted in the Hebrew exegesis, the Greek says that Adam is 230; the Hebrew, Latin and Syriac have him at 130 years old.

We are not really given any way of determining how often Adam and the woman had sex or how often they had children. It would be my guess that they would easily produce children, as their bodies would function better than our bodies today. However, it is not clear how often they would have sex; and, as any woman can tell us, after having a child, sex may not be the first thing on her mind.

Translation: ...in his likeness [and] according to his image. Although it is difficult to say which is which, it appears that the likeness or shadow image (the first word) refers to the soul of the child; and the second word refers to his physical appearance.

Translation: He calls his name Seth. In Gen. 4:25, it is Eve who calls him Seth; in this verse, it is Adam who calls him Seth. What seems to be the most likely is, one of them suggested the name (the woman suggested his name because God appointed her to have this child) and Adam said, “That is an excellent idea; his name will be Seth.”

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And the days of Adam after he begat Sheth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

Jerusalem targum                  Eight hundred years; and in those years he begat sons and daughters. And he died, and was gathered from the midst of the world.

Latin Vulgate                          And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughter.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so are days of Adam after his fathering Seth eight hundreds a year. And so he fathers sons and daughters.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Adam lived after he had begotten Seth eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the days of Adam, which he lived after his begetting of Seth, were seven hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           After Seth's birth, Adam lived 800 years; he had other sons and daughters.

Easy English                          After Seth was born, Adam lived for 800 more years. Adam had other sons and daughters.

Easy-to-Read Version            After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years. During that time, Adam had other sons and daughters.

Good News Bible (TEV)         After that, Adam lived another 800 years. He had other children...

The Message                         After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then after fathering Seth, Adam lived on for seven hundred years, as he fathered other sons and daughters.

Ancient Roots Translinear      After Adam begot Seth the days were 800 years. He begot sons and daughters.

Today’s NIV                          After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And after the birth of Seth, Adam went on living for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters:...

Complete Jewish Bible           After Shet was born, Adam lived another 800 years and had both sons and daughters.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 And the lifetime of Adam, after the birth of Sheth, was eight hundred years, during which times, sons and daughters were born to him.

NET Bible®                             The length of time Adam lived [Heb "The days of Adam."] after he became the father of Seth was 800 years; during this time he had [Heb "he fathered."] other [The word "other" is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.] sons and daughters.

NIV, ©2011                             After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And coming are the days of Adam, after his begetting Seth, to be seven hundred years. And begetting is he sons and daughters.

English Standard Version      The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.

exeGeses companion Bible   ...and the days of Adam after he births Sheth

are eight hundred years:

and he births sons and daughters:...

Syndein                                  And the days of Adam - after he had caused to bring forth Seth/Sheth - were eight hundred years. And he caused to bring forth {salad} sons and daughters {we do not know how many children - maybe hundreds}. {Note: In his first 129 years, Adam caused to bring forth two sons - Cain and Abel - and an unknown number of daughters. Next, Adam fathered Seth . Then Adam lived 800 more years and died (per the next verse).}.

World English Bible                The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters.

Young's Updated LT              And the days of Adam after his begetting Seth are eight hundred years, and he begetteth sons and daughters.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: Adam’s days after his fathering Seth were 800 years. Adam lived another 800 years after fathering Seth.

Although the Greek adds on 100 years in the previous verse, to when Seth was born; and then they shave off 100 years here.

Translation: He also fathered [other] sons and daughters. This is the verse which answers the perennial question, from where did Cain get his wife? This question has been asked a million times, and for those who listened to the answer, it is clear that Cain married one of his sisters, as did Seth.

There were 3 people of note: Cain, Abel and Seth. These might be seen as the 3 types of believers on this earth: the carnal, always-out-of fellowship believer, Cain; the believer with limited understanding of life, Abel; and the mature believer, Seth.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Jerusalem targum                  And he died, and was gathered from the midst of the world.

Latin Vulgate                          And all the time that Adam lived, came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so are all days of Adam who lived nine hundreds a year and thirty a year. And so he dies.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

Septuagint (Greek)                And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       ...and died at the age of nine hundred thirty.

Easy English                          His whole life lasted 930 years, and then he died.

Easy-to-Read Version            So Adam lived a total of 930 years; then he died.

Good News Bible (TEV)         ...and died at the age of 930.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          So, Adam was nine hundred and thirty years old when he died.

New Jerusalem Bible             In all, Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.

New Simplified Bible              Altogether, Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and then he died.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And all the years of Adam's life were nine hundred and thirty: and he came to his end.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 So the whole lifetime of Adam was nine hundred and thirty years when he died.

HCSB                                     So Adam's life lasted 930 years; then he died.

New Advent Bible                  And all the time that Adam lived, came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

NET Bible®                             The entire lifetime [Heb "all the days of Adam which he lived"] of Adam was 930 years, and then he died. The genealogy traces the line from Adam to Noah and forms a bridge between the earlier accounts and the flood story. Its constant theme of the reign of death in the human race is broken once with the account of Enoch, but the genealogy ends with hope for the future through Noah. See further G. F. Hasel, "The Genealogies of Gen. 5 and 11 and their Alleged Babylonian Background," AUSS 16 (1978): 361-74; idem, "Genesis 5 and 11," Origins 7 (1980): 23-37.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                So altogether Adam lived 930 years, and he died.

Concordant Literal Version    And coming are all the days of Adam, which he lives, to be nine hundred and thirty years. And he died.

English Standard Version      Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

exeGeses companion Bible   ...and all the days Adam lives

- nine hundred years and thirty years: and he dies.

Syndein                                  So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died {physically}.

World English Bible                All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, then he died.

Young’s Updated LT             And all the days of Adam which he lived are nine hundred and thirty years, and he dies.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: And so are all the days of Adam, who lived 930 years... He lives 130 years and then Seth is born; then he lives an additional 800 years.

Translation: ...and then he died. As God had warned, “In dying, you will die.”

Vv. 3–5 give us a 3-verse pattern which will be repeated throughout the remainder of this chapter: Adam lived 130 years and fathered [a son] in his likeness [and] according to his image. He calls his name Seth. Adam’s days after his fathering Seth were 800 years. He also fathered [other] sons and daughters. And so are all the days of Adam, who lived 930 years, and then he died. If I was to do this exegesis all over again, I probably would have grouped these sets of 3 verses.

——————————

The Life of Seth

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Although the targum tends to expand verses to include some commentary, there is nothing here to match v. 6.

Latin Vulgate                          Seth also lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enos.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so lives Seth five years and a hundred year and so he sires Enosh.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.

Septuagint (Greek)                Now Seth lived two hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       When Seth was one hundred five, he had a son named Enosh.

Easy English                          When Seth had lived for 105 years, he became Enosh's father.

Easy-to-Read Version            After Seth was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh.

Good News Bible (TEV)         When Seth was 105, he had a son, Enosh,...

New Berkeley Version           Seth at 105 got Enosh,...

New Century Version             When Seth was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Now, Seth was two hundred and five years old when he fathered Enos.

God’s Word™                         When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And Seth was a hundred and five years old when he became the father of Enosh:...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 And Sheth was one hundred and five years old when Enosh [Enosh, the son of Sheth, must not be confused with the Hanok, the son of Cain, mentioned in Ch. 4, v.17. They are totally different. —F.F.] was born to him.

HCSB                                     Seth was 105 years old when he fathered Enosh.

NET Bible®                             When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father [Heb "he fathered."] of Enosh.

NIV – UK                                When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father [Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 7-26.] of Enosh.

The Scriptures 1998              And Shĕth lived one hundred and five years, and brought forth Enosh.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                When Seth was 105 years old, Enosh was born.

Concordant Literal Version    And living is Seth two hundred and five years. And begetting is he Enosh.

English Standard Version      When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.

exeGeses companion Bible   And Sheth lives a hundred years and five years

and births Enos:...

Fred Miller’s Revised KJV     And Seth lived one hundred five years and Enos was born to him:

Hebrew Names Version         Shet lived one hundred five years, and became the father of Enosh.

LTHB                                     And Seth lived one hundred and five years, and fathered Enos.

Syndein                                  {The Seth Generation and Fathering the Enos Generation}

And Seth/Sheth lived an hundred and five years, and caused to bring forth Enos/'Enowsh. {Note: Seth replaced Abel and leads the line of those positive to God and His Word. RBT says that the formula here tells us that each generation has mature believers and here are the generations from Adam to the flood as represented by their mature believer of the generation.}.

World English Bible                Seth lived one hundred five years, and became the father of Enosh.

Young’s Updated LT              And Ses lives an hundred and five years, and begets Enos.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: When Seth had lived 105 years,... As in the case of Adam, Seth had lived over a century before fathering the son in this line. We have no idea if Seth had sons or daughters prior to the one named here.

Translation: ...he fathered Enosh. Enosh means a man, a mortal, mortal man; fallen (or feeble) man. It was clear to Seth that man was fallen. It is reasonable that Adam told Seth all that had occurred prior to his birth.

Gen 5:3–6 And Adam lived 130 years and fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years. Then he died. And Seth lived 105 years, and then he fathered Enos.

We are given 3 stats here for each person: how old each person is when they father a son; how much longer they live after that; and their age at death is given. The son whose name is given is not necessarily the firstborn. This sets up a pattern: from time to time, we will follow a specific line. We will follow the line of Adam all the way to Jesus Christ. Although this will be given in full in Luke 3, Luke bases this line will upon several genealogical lines which are noted throughout the Bible as well as upon some extra-Biblical resources.

This is a very unusual thing to be found in a book written by dozens of men over several millennia. How do you follow out a line—and why would you follow out a particular line—for hundreds of years, each writer of Scripture knowing exactly which child to choose. These families might have 3 or 4 children and they may have 9 or 10. Every writer of Scripture who records a genealogy knows the pertinent line to follow. This is not the only line which is followed in the Bible, but it is the only line which is followed from first to last, and then stopped. Once we come to Jesus Christ, no holy book continues to follow out the genealogy of, for instance, His half-brothers and half-sisters; nor is the line of Peter followed out. Somehow, 9 or 10 writers of Scripture, separated in time by hundreds of years, determined that there was a particular genealogical line to be followed, and somehow, they chose to record that correct line again and again, for 77 generations. And the Apostles which follow these writers of Scripture know that there are no other lines of any importance. Matthew records the genealogy of Joseph and Luke records the genealogy of Mary, going all the way back to Adam, who is called the son of God (Luke 3:38). But no one makes any attempt to record anyone else’s complete line because there is no reason to. In the end, Luke takes us from the first Adam to the last Adam (Luke 3:23–38 1Cor. 15:45) and there is no reason to go any further.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Not found in the targum.

Latin Vulgate                          And Seth lived after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so lives Seth after his siring of Enosh seven years and eight hundreds a year. And so he sires sons and daughters.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Seth lived after he begot Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

Septuagint (Greek)                And Seth lived seven hundred and seven years after his begetting of Enosh, and he begot sons and daughters.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Seth had more children...

Easy-to-Read Version            After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 years. During that time, Seth had other sons and daughters.

Good News Bible (TEV)         ...and then lived another 807 years. He had other children...

The Message                         After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And after fathering Enos, he lived on for seven hundred and seven years, as he fathered other sons and daughters.

Christian Community Bible     After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years. He had other sons and daughters..

New Jerusalem Bible             After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived for eight hundred and seven years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And he went on living after the birth of Enosh for eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 And Sheth, after the birth of Enosh, lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.

HCSB                                     Seth lived 807 years after the birth of Enosh, and he fathered sons and daughters.

NET Bible®                             Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had [Heb "he fathered."] other [Here and in vv. 10, 13, 16, 19 the word "other" is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.] sons and daughters.

New Heart English Bible        Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

The Scriptures 1998              And after he brought forth Enosh, Shĕth lived eight hundred and seven years, and brought forth sons and daughters.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And living is Seth, after his begetting Enosh, seven hundred and seven years, and begetting is he sons and daughters.

Context Group Version          ...and Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years, and fathered sons and daughters:...

English Standard Version      Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

exeGeses companion Bible   ...and after Sheth births Enos

he lives eight hundred years and seven years

and births sons and daughters:...

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

Syndein                                  Then Seth/Sheth lived - after he caused the birth of {yalad} Enos/'Enowsh - eight hundred and seven years, and caused to bring forth sons and daughters.

Webster Bible                        .Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters

Young’s Updated LT             And Seth lives after his begetting Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begets sons and daughters.

The gist of this verse: 

Translation: Seth lived 807 years after fathering Enosh. In all of these lines, it appears as if it is the firstborn who is named. However, it is never stated in that way, suggesting that we are following a particular line, which may include the firstborn.

To be clear, there is not one person necessarily, each generation, recorded who the next “in line” will be. As I have suggested before, every person probably had a memory much better than ours. Not only did each man learn his own line from Adam, but he knew his father, grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather, and great great great grandfather (and more). If a son in this line is born about every 100 years, and most people live to age 900 or so, then each man knew his line personally back 7 or 8 generations (by contrast, we generally know our lines going back 2 generations and sometimes 3). So, I can put a face on my father and grandfathers. I may have met a great grandfather, but I certainly could not put a face on them if I had. For the first millennium, every man could tick off his forefathers all the way back to Adam, and he probably knew what most of them looked like. Given the way that these are recorded, the great X grandfathers would be known in a line from Adam to Charlie Brown, just as they are given here. So, 8 generations back, Charlie Brown might know all of his 255 forefathers—even personally—but the line he knew consisted of just however many took him back to Adam.

I am setting you up for this proposition: Noah or one of his sons (Shem) recorded this information. Noah (or Shem) knew his line back to Adam, so this is the line which is recorded here. So the Bible tends to note men of significance, and, if they are in the line of Jesus, their lineage is also noted. In other words, no one had to figure out, in each generation, which is the right person to watch. A man might have 20 sons; he might have 40 sons. No one had to stop and figure out which son was in the line of Jesus. In fact, some did not even realize that is what was going on, that it is the line of Jesus that was being followed out. Someone, like Noah, is a man of significance (a man of doctrine; a man under the authority of God); and that man knew his lineage and he recorded it. Some may have realized that they were following out the Seed of the Woman, which would culminate in the One Who would crush the serpent’s head. Others may have simply recorded the forefathers as a matter of convention. However, God the Holy Spirit knew what was going on and recorded the particular lines so that we could go from Adam all the way to Jesus the Messiah.

Here is one of the many problems with Mormonism: Joseph Smith saw all of the Old Testament genealogies (and 2 from the New Testament) and figured out that, “Hey, they must be something magic or cool in recording a genealogy.” And so, Smith recorded a bunch of genealogies in the Book of Mormon because that is what the Bible did (he also record the Book of Mormon in Old English, because that is what the Bible did as well). But various genealogical lines are not holy or spiritual or cool; they are just a line of relatives that take you from Charlie Brown to Joseph Smith. I am personally interested in my own line; but there is nothing spiritual about that. So, recording this information would be for my benefit, but there would be no spiritual benefit to others. This is why genealogies stopped with Jesus the Messiah. That genealogy was significant; that genealogy was spiritual, if you will. But subsequent genealogies mean absolutely nothing, except to the person doing the research on his own ancestors.