Genesis 5:26

Study note

Setting — The narrator continues the patriarchal genealogy, recording the lifespan and offspring of Methuselah between his fathering of Lamech and his own death. The text functions as a chronological marker within the broader Adam-to-Noah lineage.

The words — The Hebrew verb וַיְחִי (va.yḥî) literally means "and he lived," while שְׁתַּיִם וּשְׁמֹנִים (shṭayim ûshmônîm) specifies the number "eighty-two." These terms structurally mark the duration of Methuselah's post-paternal years.

The thread — This genealogical pattern of recording years lived after a key birth appears throughout Genesis 5, culminating in the total lifespan noted in Genesis 5:27. The same chronological formula structures the antediluvian lineage from Adam to Noah.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to track the precise accumulation of years and descendants within a recorded lineage. It demands attention to the mathematical continuity of the ancestral record before the narrative shifts.

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.