What Does Genesis 5:13 Mean?
And Kenan lived after he brought forth Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and brought forth sons and daughters.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:THE KEY
The same Hebrew root calls Cainan “living” and Eve the mother of “all living,” placing this age count inside a larger story of life continuing.
THE MEANING
Life here has two dimensions: Cainan’s long span and the descendants who continue beyond the birth of Mahalaleel. The verse holds one person’s years beside the life carried forward through sons and daughters.
THE ROOT
וַיְחִי
vayechi
GROWS FROM
חיה
ḥ-y-h
To live, be alive, or remain alive.
The verb translated “lived” belongs to the same root family as words for “living” and “life.” That shared seed connects Cainan’s years to the wider continuation of life through the generations named here.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Alive; living.
חַי
The same root family describes the living in Genesis 3:20, linking Cainan’s “lived” with life beyond one lifespan.
chayyim: Life; the state of being alive.
חַיִּים
This branch makes visible the life carried through the verse’s succession of generations.
וַיּוֹלֶד
wayyoled
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
To bear, bring forth, or beget.
“brought forth” in this verse is wayyoled. The root of “begat” also gives Hebrew words for “child” and “generations.” The word-family holds the act of begetting together with the child and the continuing line that follows.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: A child; one who is born.
יֶלֶד
The branch names the life that the verb “begat” brings forth.
toledot: Generations; descendants or an account of descent.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This branch shows how one act of begetting becomes part of a continuing line.
THE PATTERN
Life extends beyond an individual through what is brought forth, growing into a wider chain of generations and fruit.
And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Bear fruit and multiply, and fill the earth, and tread it under your foot, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the winged of the heavens, and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth."And the days of Adam after he brought forth Seth were eight hundred years, and he brought forth sons and daughters.Truly, truly, I say to you. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.THE THREAD
And Adam called his wife's name, the living one, Eve; because she was the mother of all living.The same חיה (ch-y-h) root appears in “lived” here and “living” in Eve’s name explanation. That shared word-family opens Cainan’s genealogy as a continuation of life, not only a count of years.
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