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1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created Adam, he made him in the image of God;

2 He created them male and female, and blessed them; and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth.

4 And the days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years; and he begat sons and daughters.

5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

6 Seth lived for one hundred and five years, and begat Enosh;

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters;

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and begat Kenan.

10 and Enosh lived for eight hundred and fifteen years after he begat Kenan, and begat sons and daughters;

11 and all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

12 And Kenan[a] lived seventy years, and begat Mahalalel:

13 and Kenan lived after he begat Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:

14 and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begat Jared:

16 and Mahalalel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:

17 and all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and nintey-five years, and he died.

18 And Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begat Enoch:

19 and Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

20 and all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

21 And Enoch lived for sixty-five years, and begat Methuselah;

22 and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters;

23 and all the days of Enoch were 365 years:

24 and Enoch walked with God; and was suddenly gone, for God took him.

25 And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begat Lamech;

26 and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begat sons and daughters:

27 and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

28 And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begat[a] a son;

29 and he called him Noah[a], saying, “This one will comfort us in the work and the toil of our hands on the earth, which the LORD has cursed.”

30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred and nintey-five years, and begat sons and daughters;

31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

32 And Noah was 500 years old; and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth[a].

[12] Cainan. The spelling 'Kenan' is closer to the Hebrew “Qēnān”, and is seen in ASV, RSV, JPS and other more modern sources.

[24] KJV and others 'and he was not', GNV and DRA etc. 'was no longer seen', the plain meaning would be that he had disappeared suddenly.

[28] This 'begat' is different from before, in that it does not say the name of the child as in 5:21 “way-yō-w-leḏ eṯ- mə-ṯū-še-laḥ,” (and he begat Methuselah); rather it says “way-yō-w-leḏ bên.” This is to indicate that Noah was special and would provide sons.

[29] The name 'Noah' is the root of two other Hebrew words; 'to build' and 'to comfort'. Lamech states that Noah would comfort the people; which he did through the invention of farming tools. The second meaning of his name will be left as an exercise to the reader.

According to the Rashbam, the reason why he was named Noah and why Lamech was not regarded as a prohpet (in contrast to Peleg's father for example) is because Noah was the first of the generations born after the death of Adam, and therefore people had hoped he would be able to atone for the iniquity of Adam. Thus in naming his son after words akin to 'comforter' and 'builder' it was hoped (prayed) that he would ease their suffering from the curse and that he would be able to build a new relationship with God.

[32] Japheth is the oldest but Shem is listed first because he was born circumcised. Japheth is listed last to show Ham that he had failed in his attempt; there would be many more descendants after Ham, but not in Ham's share.

Selected commentary.

h.זה ספר תולדות אדם THIS IS THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS OF ADAM — This is the record (or, enumeration) of the generations of Adam. There are however, many Midrashic observations on this verse.

h.‘ביום ברא וגו IN THE DAY THAT [GOD] CREATED etc. — This states that on the day when he was created he begot progeny (Genesis Rabbah 24:7).

h.שלשים ומאת שנה A HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS — Until then he lived apart from his wife (Genesis Rabbah 24:6).

h.ויתהלך חנוך AND ENOCH WALKED [WITH GOD] — He was a righteous man, but his mind was easily induced) to turn from his righteous ways and to become wicked. The Holy One, blessed be He, therefore took him away quickly and made him die before his full time. This is why Scripture uses a different expression when referring to his death by writing ואיננו “and he was not”, meaning, he was not in the world to complete the number of his years.

h.כי לקח אותו FOR GOD TOOK HIM — before his time; a similar meaning of לקח “to take” we find in (Ezekiel 24:16), “I take away from thee the desire of thine eves [by a plague]”.

h.ויולד בן AND HE BEGOT A SON (בן “son”, connected with the root בנה ‘‘to build”) — from whom the world was built up (peopled) (Tanchuma 1:1:11)

h.זה ינחמנו THIS WILL COMFORT US — He will ease from off us (ינחמנו) the toil of our hands. For until Noah came people had no agricultural instruments and he prepared such for them. The earth had brought forth thorns and thistles when they sowed wheat in consequence of the curse imposed upon Adam Harishon: in the days of Noah, however, this ceased (Tanchuma 1:1:11). This is what is meant by the word ינחמנו (viz., ינח מנו). If, however, you do not explain it in this manner, but from the root נחם “to comfort”, then the meaning you give to this expression (connecting it with the idea of “comfort”) will have no application to the name נח, and you would have to call him מנחם “Comforter”.

h.בן חמש מאות שנה FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD — R. Judan said: “How is it that all the previous generations had children at the age of hundred years and this one (Noah) at the age of 500 years? The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “If they (Noah’s children) be wicked, they will perish by the water of the Flood and it will grieve this righteous man; if they be righteous, I shall have to trouble him to construct several arks.” He therefore restrained him from having children until he was 500 years old, in order that Japhet, the oldest of his sons (cf. Rashi on Genesis 10:21) should not reach the punishable age before the Flood. For it is written (Isaiah 65:20), “For as a lad shall one die when he is one hundred years old”, meaning, that in the future time, he will only then be of punishable age, and this was so, too, before the giving of the Torah (Genesis Rabbah 26:2).

h.את שם ואת חם ואת יפת SHEM, HAM AND JAPHETH — But was not Japheth the eldest? But you naturally first interest yourself in Shem who was a righteous man, who was born circumcised (a sign of righteousness) and from whom Abraham was to descend (Genesis Rabbah 26:3).