32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And to Shem -- to him also were [sons] born; he is the father of all the sons of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder.
And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. These three are the sons of Noah; and from these was [the population of] the whole earth spread abroad.
And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren outside. And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid [it] upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and learned what his youngest son had done to him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; Let him be a bondman of bondmen to his brethren. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman. Let God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman.
These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations. And from these came the distribution of the nations on the earth after the flood.
Noah; Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. -- And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Diphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Rodanim. The sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. -- And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raama, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. And Cush begot Nimrod: he began to be mighty on the earth. -- And Mizraim begot the Ludim, and the Anamim, and the Lehabim, and the Naphtuhim, and the Pathrusim, and the Casluhim out of whom came the Philistines, and the Caphtorim. -- And Canaan begot Zidon his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. -- And Arphaxad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. And to Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were sons of Joktan. Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abram: the same is Abraham. The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.
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Commentary on Genesis 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
Ge 5:1-32. Genealogy of the Patriarchs.
1. book of the generations—(See Ge 11:4).
Adam—used here either as the name of the first man, or of the human race generally.
5. all the days … Adam lived—The most striking feature in this catalogue is the longevity of Adam and his immediate descendants. Ten are enumerated (Ge 5:5-32) in direct succession whose lives far exceed the ordinary limits with which we are familiar—the shortest being three hundred sixty-five, [Ge 5:23] and the longest nine hundred sixty-nine years [Ge 5:27]. It is useless to inquire whether and what secondary causes may have contributed to this protracted longevity—vigorous constitutions, the nature of their diet, the temperature and salubrity of the climate; or, finally—as this list comprises only the true worshippers of God—whether their great age might be owing to the better government of their passions and the quiet, even tenor of their lives. Since we cannot obtain satisfactory evidence on these points, it is wise to resolve the fact into the sovereign will of God. We can, however, trace some of the important uses to which, in the early economy of Providence, it was subservient. It was the chief means of reserving a knowledge of God, of the great truths of religion, as well as the influence of genuine piety. So that, as their knowledge was obtained by tradition, they would be in a condition to preserve it in the greatest purity.
21. Enoch … begat Methuselah—This name signifies, "He dieth, and the sending forth," so that Enoch gave it as prophetical of the flood. It is computed that Methuselah died in the year of that catastrophe.
24. And Enoch walked with God—a common phrase in Eastern countries denoting constant and familiar intercourse.
was not; for God took him—In Heb 11:5, we are informed that he was translated to heaven—a mighty miracle, designed to effect what ordinary means of instruction had failed to accomplish, gave a palpable proof to an age of almost universal unbelief that the doctrines which he had taught (Jude 14, 15) were true and that his devotedness to the cause of God and righteousness in the midst of opposition was highly pleasing to the mind of God.
26. Lamech—a different person from the one mentioned in the preceding chapter [Ge 4:18]. Like his namesake, however, he also spoke in numbers on occasion of the birth of Noah—that is, "rest" or "comfort" [Ge 5:29, Margin]. "The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the penal consequences of the fall in earthly toils and sufferings, and to the hope of a Deliverer, excited by the promise made to Eve. That this expectation was founded on a divine communication we infer from the importance attached to it and the confidence of its expression" [Peter Smith].
32. Noah was five hundred years old: and … begat—That he and the other patriarchs were advanced in life before children were born to them is a difficulty accounted for probably from the circumstance that Moses does not here record their first-born sons, but only the succession from Adam through Seth to Abraham.