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Hebrew Bible · Genesis 5; 6:3

Lifespans cut to 120 years

EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
ReferenceGenesis 5; 6:3
Writtenc. 900–450 BCE
SetBefore the Flood
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Translation: KJV

Read it literally

Methuselah lives 969 years; afterward the ages fall steadily. A limit imposed right after the Watchers episode, as if on purpose.

What scholars say

The long ages parallel the Sumerian King List's long reigns, which also drop after the Flood.

Strange time Giants and hybrids

Quick answers about Genesis 5

Where is Genesis 5 found?

Genesis 5; 6:3 (Hebrew Bible). Translation quoted: King James Version (1611; standard 1769 text), with Apocrypha.

When was Genesis 5 written?

c. 900–450 BCE.

What do scholars say about Genesis 5?

The long ages parallel the Sumerian King List's long reigns, which also drop after the Flood.

Rabbit holes in this passage

PersonMethuselahIf you add up the ages in the standard Hebrew text, the oldest man in the Bible dies in the very year of the Flood. Methuselah lived 969 years. In the Enoch books he does something odder: he travels to "the ends of the earth" to ask his vanished father about a glowing baby. What did Enoch tell him?TextSumerian King ListThe first eight kings in this cuneiform list reign for a combined 241,200 years, and one is credited with 43,200 years alone; kingship, it says, "descended from heaven" at Eridu, and later "the flood swept over." Historians read the numbers as symbols and the list as propaganda. Propaganda for whom?BeingThe Watchers (Grigori)The story says some angels who never sleep came down to a real mountain summit, picked up human wives, and taught people metalworking, spells and astronomy. Their leaders are named, each in charge of ten others. The same word shows up in the Book of Daniel as a heavenly council. So who exactly were the Watchers?

Sources

  1. King James Version (1611; standard 1769 text), with ApocryphaPrimary text
  2. Genesis 5:21–27, King James VersionPrimary text
  3. The Sumerian King List, trans. Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL t.2.1.1), University of OxfordPrimary text
  4. 1 Enoch 6–8, trans. R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch (1917)Primary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated