Prologue to Genesis
The Unauthorized Version
Genesis 5
These are the descendants of Adam.
When Elohim created adam they made them in their image, male and female.
When Adam was 130 he became father to a son in his image, and named him Seth. The age of Adam lasted 930 years (800 years after Seth).
When Seth was 105 he become father to Enosh. The age of Seth lasted 912 years (807 years after Enosh).
When Enosh was 90 he became father to Kenan. The age of Enosh lasted 905 years (815 years after Kenan).
When Kenan was 70 he became father to Mahalalel. The age of Kenan lasted 910 years (840 years after Mahahelel).
When Mahalalel was 65 he became father to Jared. The age of Mahalalel lasted 895 years (830 years after Jared).
When Jared was 162 he became father to Enoch. The age of Jared lasted 962 years (800 years after Enoch).
When Enoch was 65 he became father to Methuselah. The age of Enoch was 365 years (300 years after Methuselah) during which time he walked with Elohim. Then he was no more, because Elohim took him.
When Methuselah was 187 he became father to Lamech. The age of Methuselah was 969 years (782 years after Lamech).
When Lamech was 182 he became father to a son he named Noah. Lamech said, ‘From the adamah that Yahweh cursed, this one shall bring us relief from the struggle and sweat of our hands.” The age of Lamech was 777 years (595 years after Noah).
When Noah was 500 he became father to Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Translation notes
I have used the ‘age of’ formulation to suggest the sense of epoch to each of these characters. In doing that I am not suggesting that the text should be made historically palatable, since this is historical mythology. I simply think this is part of the way this kind of genealogy would be understood within an ancient imagination.
Prologue to Genesis
The Unauthorized Version

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.