Genesis 5:1-32

From Adam to Noah

1This is the history of the descendants of Adam. When God created people,[a] he made them in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them "human."[b]


3When Adam was 130 years old, his son Seth was born,[c] and Seth was the very image of his father.[d] 4After the birth of Seth,[e] Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5He died at the age of 930.

6When Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born. 7After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 8He died at the age of 912.


9When Enosh was 90 years old, his son Kenan was born. 10After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 11He died at the age of 905.


12When Kenan was 70 years old, his son Mahalalel was born. 13After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 14He died at the age of 910.


15When Mahalalel was 65 years old, his son Jared was born. 16After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 17He died at the age of 895.


18When Jared was 162 years old, his son Enoch was born. 19After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 20He died at the age of 962.


21When Enoch was 65 years old, his son Methuselah was born. 22After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived another 300 years in close fellowship with God, and he had other sons and daughters. 23Enoch lived 365 years in all. 24He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him.


25When Methuselah was 187 years old, his son Lamech was born. 26After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27He died at the age of 969.


28When Lamech was 182 years old, his son Noah was born. 29Lamech named his son Noah,[f] for he said, "He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the LORD has cursed." 30After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 31He died at the age of 777.


32By the time Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.



Dig Deeper

If we’re honest, most people skip over chapters like Genesis 5. We assume that these are simply nothing more than boring lists that tell us who was born and when they were born. The assumption is that there isn’t really anything that can be learned from these kinds of lists. In fact, however, there are many interesting things that we can find in many of these geneaological lists in the Bible.


One thing we can learn from this list is how many years passed from the time of Adam’s creation to the onset of the flood. Try adding up the years and see if you can figure out how many years had passed between these two events. Some people claim that this is a representative genealogy and that there may be many generations skipped. The problem with that line of thinking is that there would be absolutely no reason to include the ages of each man and his age when his son was born if the intent was not convey how much time had passed. In fact, by including the ages of each man when his son was born, there is no room given to insert other generations.


We also learn that none of these important patriarchs who are the ancestors of Noah, and ultimately Jesus, were alive at the time of flood. There is one interesting exception to that, however. Noah’s grandfather was named Methuselah. He lived to be 969, which makes him the oldest recorded man in the Bible. If we add up the dates, we find that Methuselah apparently died in the same year of the flood. Does this mean that Noah’s grandfather was not a righteous man and did not want to get on the ark, and so he died? Interestingly, the name Methuselah can be taken to mean ‘when he dies, it shall be sent’. It appears that God waited until Methuselah had died to send the flood.


There is one other interesting fact in this chapter. Verse 1 tells us that people were made in the likeness of God, but in verse 3, which is after the Fall, we are told that Seth was in the image of his father. If you remember, image can mean ‘representative’. This seems to indicate that after the Fall, man ceased to be God’s direct representative.


In this passage, we see that the purpose of representing God has also not escaped the devastating effects of sin. In chapter 1, we were told that God made man in his image. Now, however, we are told that Adam’s son is born in his image. Sin separates us from the ability to truly represent God’s wisdom to His creation (see Ephesians 3:10).



Devotional Thought

Just as we can be tempted to overlook passages like this and miss the wonderful things that we can learn, there is also a temptation to overlook certain people in our lives. Take time to look at the people in your life and see if there is someone (particularly an older person) that you haven’t paid much attention to. Make an effort to spend some time with them and learn from them. They may have many wonderful things to teach you.