What Does Genesis 5:26 Mean in the King James?

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

Genesis 5:26 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

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.

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 an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

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

That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

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

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

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

THE THREAD

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Genesis 5:3 · KJV

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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