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Genesis

About this book

Adam's Descendants

Chapter 5

1 This is the record of the family line of Adam.⁠ When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind.” 3 When Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image,⁠ and he named him Seth. 4 The length of time Adam lived after he became the father of Seth was 800 years; during this time he had other sons and daughters. 5 The entire lifetime of Adam was 930 years, and then he died.⁠ 6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.⁠ 7 Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. 8 The entire lifetime of Seth was 912 years, and then he died. 9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters. 11 The entire lifetime of Enosh was 905 years, and then he died. 12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters. 14 The entire lifetime of Kenan was 910 years, and then he died. 15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived 830 years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters. 17 The entire lifetime of Mahalalel was 895 years, and then he died. 18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. 20 The entire lifetime of Jared was 962 years, and then he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.⁠ 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years,⁠ and he had other sons and daughters. 23 The entire lifetime of Enoch was 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away.⁠ 25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.⁠ 27 The entire lifetime of Methuselah was 969 years, and then he died.⁠ 28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.⁠ 29 He named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us comfort from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.” 30 Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. 31 The entire lifetime of Lamech was 777 years, and then he died. 32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 5:1 and Sanhedrin 38b

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

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Summary

Rabbinic tradition in tractate Sanhedrin reads the plural “generations” in Genesis 5 to mean that God taught Adam the Torah. This resembles other Jewish traditions, such as Jubilees, which says that Abraham learned the Torah before Moses received it.

Passages

Genesis 5:1

Hebrew Bible
1 This is the record of the family line of Adam. When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind.” 3 When Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Sanhedrin 38b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
And this, i.e., that the verse in Psalms is stated by Adam, is what Reish Lakish says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This is the book of the generations of Adam” (Genesis 5:1)? This verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, showed Adam every generation and its Torah interpreters, every generation and its wise ones. When he arrived at his vision of the generation of Rabbi Akiva, Adam was gladdened by his Torah, and saddened by his manner of death. He said: “How weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God,” i.e., how it weighs upon me that a man as great as Rabbi Akiva should suffer.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sanhedrin

References

"... Some Jewish legends relate that Adam, in his state as a lifeless mass, or a golem, was uniquely educated by the deity. This divine instruction included a comprehensive vision of the entire human history. Later Jewish mystics often received a similar vision on the heavenly curtain Pargod, which showed them the course of human history together with all its generations and leaders. According to Scholem, “even before Adam has speech and reason, he beholds a vision of the history of Creation, which passes before him in images.” Genesis Rabbah 24:2 underlines the comprehensiveness of this revelation when it tells that the first-formed beheld every generation and its sages, judges, scribes, interpreters, and leaders ... According to the Babylonian Talmud and the Book of Zohar, the protoplast was the first human being who received a vision of every generation and its leaders, referenced in b. Sanhedrin 38b ..."
Andrei A. Orlov, Golem’s Education: Descent Pedagogy in the Apocalypse of Abraham (Marquette University, 2024), 1–34.

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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Genesis 5:1 and Sanhedrin 38b

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