1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, to the likeness of God he created him. 2 Male and female he created them, and blessed them, and called the name of them Adam, in the day in which they were created.

3 Moreover Adam lived one-hundred thirty years, and begat as his image and likeness, and called his name Seth. 4 And the days of Adam were done, after he begat Seth, eight hundred years; and he begat sons and daughters. 5 And all the time which Adam lived was done, nine hundred thirty years, and he died.

6 Seth likewise lived one hundred fifty years and begat Enos. 7 And Seth lived for eight hundred seventy years after he begat Enos, and he begat sons and daughters. 8 And all the days of Seth were done, nine hundred twelve years, and he died.

9 But Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan. 10 After the birth of him he lived eight hundred fifteen years and begat sons and daughters. 11 And all the days of Enos were done nine hundred and five years, and he died.

12 Cainan likewise lived seventy years, and begat Malaleel. 13 And Cainan lived after he begat Malaleel, eight hundred forty years, and begat sons and daughters. 14 And all the days of Cainan were done nine-hundred ten years, and he died.

15 Moreover Malaleel lived sixty-five years, and begat Jared. 16 And Malaleel lived after he begat Jared, eight-hundred thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. 17 And all the days of Malaleel were done, eight-hundred ninety-five years, and he died.

18 And Jared lived one-hundred sixty-two years, and begat Henoch. 19 And Jared lived eight-hundred years after he begat Henoch, and begat sons and daughters. 20 And all the days of Jared were done nine-hundred sixty-two years, and he died.

21 Henoch lived sixty-five years further and begot Mathusalam. 22 And Henoch walked with God; and lived, after he begot Mathusalam three-hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 23 And all the days of Henoch were done three-hundred sixty-five years. 24 And he walked with God, and was not seen, because God took him.

25 Likewise Mathusela lived one-hundred eight-seven years, and begat Lamech. 26 And Mathusela lived, after he begat Lamech, seven-hundred eight-two years, and begat sons and daughters. 27 And all the days of Mathusela were done, nine-hundred sixty-nine years, and he died.

28 Moreover Lamech lived one-hundred eighty-two years, and begat a son. 29 And he called his name Noë, saying, he will console us, by the works and labors of our hands, on the earth which God has cursed. 30 And Lamech lived, after he begat Noë, five-hundred ninety-five years, and begat sons and daughters. 31 And all the days o Lamech were done, seven-hundred seventy-seven years, and he died. But Noë when he was five-hundred years old , begat Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

Linguistic Notes

St Jerome deviates from both the Hebrew and LXX texts in offering some variations in wording for all the “xxx lived” phrases which I’ve done my best to translate literally. Both the Hebrew and LXX (along with most translations) maintain parallel phrasing for each generation with no variation in wording along the way.

The Douai-Rheims translation renders quingentorum esset annorum as “when he was five-hundred years old.” I could find no indication of what’s happening grammatically in the Latin, so I followed D-R for that phrase.

Theological Notes

I’ve always tended to gloss over the begats when reading the Bible. Even the occasional interposition of someone like Henoch who didn’t die isn’t usually enough to keep me focused. So it’s worth noting a few things along the way. First is the mentions of other sons and daughters in the genealogy. This is the first mention of Adam and Eve’s daughters (v. 4), or for that matter anyone’s daughters (the descendants of Cain in the previous chapter are only given as sons). It’s also worth noting that many of the names in this genealogy duplicate names in the list of Cain’s descendants (something I only noticed when checking for daughters in Genesis 4. This makes me wonder whether the two genealogies were meant to reconcile competing and slightly different traditional lists of the early patriarchs). Finally, there’s a strong tendency in the Old Testament for God to favor second-born sons over first-born sons even as their fathers might have the opposite preference. Yet here, only first-born sons are listed (unless there are unnamed first-borns that were omitted from the genealogy).