What Does Genesis 5:26 Mean?

And Methuselah lived after he brought forth Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and brought forth sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:26 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:

THE KEY

The verse measures Methuselah’s life not only in years but in generations: after Lamech is born, Methuselah continues to live and beget.

THE MEANING

Life here extends beyond a single birth or a count of years. Methuselah’s life continues after Lamech’s birth, and the line keeps unfolding through sons and daughters.

THE ROOT

חָיָה

chayah

GROWS FROM

חיה

To live or remain alive.

“lived” in this verse is chayah. The verse pairs ⁨חָיָה⁩ (chayah, live) with ⁨ילד⁩ (yalad, beget): living and bringing forth life appear together. Methuselah’s years are narrated as a span that continues into further generations.

ALSO GROWS

chai: Living, alive

חַי

It shares the life-root behind “lived,” keeping the verse’s emphasis on life itself rather than only a tally of years.

chayyim: Life

חַיִּים

The related noun makes visible the shared seed between being alive and the life that continues through descendants.

יָלַד

yalad

GROWS FROM

ילד

To give birth or bring forth.

“brought forth” in this verse is yalad. The root behind “begat” also forms words for a child and for generations. English separates the act of begetting from the descendants it produces; Hebrew keeps them on the same root-branch.

ALSO GROWS

yeled: Child

יֶלֶד

The child is directly named by the same root that describes bringing forth Lamech and the other children.

toledot: Generations, descendants, or account of births

תּוֹלְדוֹת

This branch shows how an act of begetting opens into a continuing line, the structure this genealogy records.

THE PATTERN

What is carried forward through one generation continues through what is born and what is passed on.

And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.

Genesis 5:3 · SDVThe same pairing of living and begetting appears again, with the son explicitly carrying his father’s likeness.

So that the generation that follows might know them, the children yet to be born, who will rise and recount them to their children.

Psalm 78:6 · SDVThe chain continues as what one generation knows is declared to children who will pass it on.

And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:2 · SDVThe verse traces the same onward movement through successive generations of people who receive and pass something forward.

THE THREAD

And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and brought forth a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.

Genesis 5:3 · SDV

This verse uses the same roots for “lived” (⁨חָיָה⁩, chayah, live) and “begat” (⁨יָלַד⁩, yalad, bring forth) as Genesis 5:26. Adam’s name (⁨אָדָם⁩, adam, the ground-being, from ⁨אֲדָמָה⁩, adamah, ground) and Seth’s likeness make the passage’s generational continuity explicit.

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