Discovery BoxGenesis 5:1-5
Context5:1 This is the record 1 of the family line 2 of Adam.
When God created humankind, 3 he made them 4 in the likeness of God. 5:2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind.” 5
5:3 When 6 Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth. 5:4 The length of time Adam lived 7 after he became the father of Seth was 800 years; during this time he had 8 other 9 sons and daughters. 5:5 The entire lifetime 10 of Adam was 930 years, and then he died. 11
[5:1] 1 tn Heb “book” or “roll.” Cf. NIV “written account”; NRSV “list.”
[5:1] 2 tn Heb “generations.” See the note on the phrase “this is the account of” in 2:4.
[5:1] 3 tn The Hebrew text has אָדָם (’adam).
[5:1] 4 tn 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.
[5:2] 5 tn The Hebrew word used here is אָדָם (’adam).
[5:3] 6 tn 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.
[5:4] 7 tn Heb “The days of Adam.”
[5:4] 9 tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
[5:5] 10 tn Heb “all the days of Adam which he lived”
[5:5] 11 sn 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.
