What Does Genesis 5:15 Mean?
And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and brought forth Jared.
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 Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:THE KEY
The verse names the next generation “Descent”, so the family line is more than a count of years; it is life arriving into the world.
THE MEANING
This verse makes a lifetime visible through its continuation: sixty-five years lead to the birth of another named life. Jared carries the sense of “descent,” placing that downward movement inside the family line. Your life, too, is one point in an unfolding line, with what comes after you arriving through you.
THE ROOT
יָרֶד
Yared
GROWS FROM
ירד
To descend, go down.
Jared’s name echoes the root ירד, meaning “descend.” English presents a personal name; Hebrew lets the movement remain audible, making descent part of the next generation’s nature.
ALSO GROWS
yarad: To descend, go down.
יָרַד
This is the verb behind Jared’s name, giving the name its sense of downward movement.
yored: Descending; going down.
יוֹרֵד
This form appears for the descending dew in Psalm 133:3, where descent brings life to the land.
מַהֲלַלְאֵל
Mahalal’el
GROWS FROM
הלל
To praise, celebrate.
Mahalaleel joins mahalal, “praise,” with El, “God”, a name carrying the nature “praise of God.” Beside Jared, “descent,” the verse places praise and downward movement together in one line of generations.
ALSO GROWS
halal: To praise, celebrate.
הָלַל
This is the root carried in the praise element of Mahalaleel’s name.
tehillah: Praise; a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
This related word shows praise as something expressed and voiced, not merely held as an idea.
וַיּוֹלֶד
vayyōled
GROWS FROM
ילד
To bear, beget, bring forth.
“brought forth” in this verse is vayyōled. The root behind “begat” also forms words for a child and for generations. The line is not only a record of one act; its language ties bringing forth to the unfolding of a family line.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
The same root names the child who is brought forth, linking the act to the life that follows.
toledot: Generations; begettings.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This related form names the unfolding family line, extending the verse’s single birth into a continuing story.
THE PATTERN
Descent is how what is above enters earthly life.
And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder standing on the earth, and its head reached to the heavens; and behold, messengers of God were climbing up and coming down on it.Like the dew of Hermon, that comes down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the LORD commands the blessing, life for the ages.For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.THE THREAD
Like the dew of Hermon, that comes down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the LORD commands the blessing, life for the ages.Jared’s name carries ירד (yarad), “descend”; Psalm 133:3 uses that same root for dew descending on Zion. Here descent carries life: the downward movement is joined to the LORD’s commanded blessing.
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