Genealogies of Genesis

The genealogies of Genesis record the descendants of Adam and Eve as given in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The enumerated genealogy in chapters 4, 5 and 11 reports the lineal male descent to Abraham, including the age at which each patriarch fathered his named son and the number of years he lived thereafter. The genealogy for Cain is given in Chapter 4 and the genealogy for Seth is in Chapter 5. The genealogy in chapter 10 recording the male descendants of Noah is known as the "Table of Nations".

Enumerated genealogy

Three versions of the Genesis genealogy exist: the Hebrew Masoretic Text, the Greek Septuagint, and the Hebrew Samaritan Pentateuch. The Latin Vulgate version of Genesis was translated from the Masoretic Text and is accepted by Western Christians, including Roman Catholics and Protestants, whereas the Greek version is accepted by Eastern Christians, including Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopic, Jacobite, and Armenian. The Vulgate was published by Jerome in 405 based on a Tanakh compiled near the end of the first century, whereas the Septuagint was reportedly written by seventy translators in Egypt near the middle of the third century BC based on an earlier version of the Tanakh. Both have been translated into numerous vernacular languages — a prominent example based upon the Vulgate is the King James Version of the Bible. The Genesis genealogy, along with other biblical and secular events, was used to fix the Creation of the world. But the patriarchs were often 100 years older at the birth of their named son in the Septuagint than they were in the Vulgate, resulting in an Eastern Creation 1466 years earlier than the Western Creation. The calculation most famous in the English-speaking world is that of Archbishop James Ussher, 4004 BC, whereas the most famous Eastern calculations is the epoch of the Byzantine Era, 5509 BC.

The following table lists the patriarchs that appear in the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but their names are spelled as they appear in the King James Version of the Bible. Their year of birth differs according to the Vulgate or the Septuagint. (AM = "Anno Mundi" = in the year of the world). Also given is each patriarch's age at the birth of his named son and the age of the patriarch's death. Cainan, born after the flood is mentioned in the Septuagint but not the Vulgate. Methuselah survived the Flood according to the Septuagint (but not the Vulgate), even though he was not on Noah's Ark.

Following Judah's line

ee also

*Genealogy of Jesus

References

*Hall, Jonathan, "Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity" Cambridge U.Press, 1997.
*Malkin, Irad, editor, "Ancient Perceptions of Greek Ethnicity" in series Center for Hellenic Studies Colloquia, 5. Harvard University Press, 2001. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2002/2002-08-12.html Reviewed by Margaret C. Miller in "Bryn Mawr Classical Review," 2002]
*Driver, S. R., "The Book of Genesis", Westminster Commentaries, 3rd edition, London, UK, Methuen, 1904.
*Kautzsch, E. F.: quoted by James Orr, "The Early Narratives of Genesis," in "The Fundamentals", Vol. 1, Los Angeles, CA, Biola Press, 1917.
*Dillmann, A., "Genesis: Critically and Exegetically Expounded", Vol. 1, Edinburgh, UK, T. and T. Clark, 1897, 314.
*Custance, Arthur C., "The Roots of the Nations". [http://custance.org/old/noah/ch1bh.html ]
*Schmandt-Besserat, Denise, "How Writing Came About", University of Texas Press, 1996, ISBN 0-292-77704-3.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.complete-bible-genealogy.com Complete Bible Genealogy] Genealogy and family tree of every person in the Bible
* [http://www.academic-genealogy.com/worldancestry.htm World Ancestry — Roots In Antiquity]
* Hasel, G.F., 1980. [http://www.grisda.org/origins/07053.htm "The meaning of the chronogenealogies of Genesis 5 and 11"] , "Origins" 7(2):53–70.
* Williams, P., 1998. [http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v12/i1/chronology.asp "Some remarks preliminary to a biblical chronology"] , "TJ" 12(1):98–106, .
* Sarfati, J., 2003, [http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v17/i3/chronogenealogies.asp "Biblical chronogenealogies"] "TJ" 17(3):14–18.