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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 34

1 Then Moses ascended from the rift valley plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. The Lord showed him the whole land—Gilead⁠ to Dan, 2 and all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the distant sea, 3 the Negev, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of date palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’⁠ I have let you see it, but you will not cross over there.” 5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab⁠ as the Lord had said.⁠ 6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab⁠ near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day.⁠ 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull⁠ nor had his vitality departed.⁠ 8 The Israelites mourned for Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.⁠ 9 Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hands on him; and the Israelites listened to him and did just what the Lord had commanded Moses. 10 No prophet ever again arose in Israel like Moses,⁠ who knew the Lord face to face.⁠ 11 He did all the signs and wonders the Lord had sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, all his servants, and the whole land,⁠ 12 and he displayed great power and awesome might in view of all Israel.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 6:3 and Deuteronomy 34:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Genesis 6 sets a divine limit of 120 years for human life, even though later figures live much longer. Deuteronomy 34 echoes this when Moses dies at 120, making him the one major figure whose age exactly matches that limit.

Passages

Genesis 6:3

Hebrew Bible
1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Deuteronomy 34:7

Hebrew Bible
5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed. 8 The Israelites mourned for Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

"... Genesis 6:3 ... YHWH sets the maximum age of humans at 120 here in J; but many persons live longer than this (9:29; 11:10-26, 32 - which come from a separate source, the Book of Records). In J, no one lives longer than 120 years, and it culminates with the report that Moses lives to the maximum of 120 (Deuteronomy 34:7) ..."
Richard Elliott Friedman, The Bible with Sources Revealed: A New View into the Five Books of Moses (New York: HarperOne, 2005), 42.
"... the closing of the Torah appears to have arisen literarily from a specific Pentateuch redaction that inserted a distinct theological perspective into the Pentateuch. The criteria for the identification of such texts are found primarily in that they reflect a Pentateuch-wide horizon and show redactional interest in the configuration of the Pentateuch as Torah. In reality such textual elements are found in the Pentateuch. They comprise the oath-formulated promises of land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that pervade the Pentateuch, but are no longer extant from Joshua on. Second is the interest in Deuteronomy 34:10–12, which evidently serves to set apart the Torah as the “arch-prophecy” of Moses from the subsequent “prophetic books” from Joshua to Malachi. And finally, the motif of the death of Moses at the age of 120 according to Deuteronomy 34:7, which points back to the determination of Gen 6:3 and simultaneously formulates a reconciliation between Deuteronomistic and Priestly theologies of guilt in the form of a third way ..."
Konrad Schmid, Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible?, CSHB 4 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 93.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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  • Well the 2 witness at the end times Remember the Ascension..well this I will say .I seen 2 flames of fire...like tongues..same flames and moved together up against the sky over my wife's Pathfinder as I was driving..2 people in the car didn't see the fire..but the flames was pure fire..no blue in th ...

    George Rickman, August 8, 2025

Genesis 6:3 and Deuteronomy 34:7

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