Genesis 5:21

Study note

Setting — This verse functions as a chronological anchor within a patriarchal genealogy, positioned immediately after the record of Jared’s death and before the account of Enoch’s spiritual walk. It marks a specific moment in the antediluvian timeline when Enoch reached sixty-five years of age.

The words — The verb וַ/יּ֖וֹלֶד (va/i.Yo.led) translates literally as “and he fathered,” indicating the biological act of procreation. It is coupled with the age phrase חָמֵ֥שׁ וְ/שִׁשִּׁ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה (cha.Mesh ve./shi.Shim sha.Nah), meaning “fifty and six years,” to fix the timing of Methuselah’s birth.

The thread — This birth record is repeated in Luke 3:37, which preserves Methuselah as Enoch’s son within a descending genealogical line. The immediate context in Genesis 5:22 notes that this event preceded Enoch’s subsequent three-hundred-year period of walking with God.

Why it lands — The text establishes a factual chronological marker before introducing Enoch’s spiritual trajectory. It requires the reader to acknowledge the precise historical lineage that precedes any theological development regarding the patriarch.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.