Genesis 4:18

Summary

Genesis 4:18 traces four generations descending from Enoch: Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, and Lamech. The verse links each name to the next through the recurring verb "to father/beget," forming a genealogical chain within the line of Cain.

Key words

• va-yyivvaled ("he was born", H3205) — niphal (passive) form of the verb yalad, used only for Irad's birth relative to Enoch; the passive voice frames Irad as the one "born to" Enoch rather than Enoch as active begetter, differing from the active yalad used in the rest of the verse.
• la-Chanokh ("to Enoch", H2585G) — proper name with the preposition le ("to"), marking Enoch as the indirect recipient of the birth, not its grammatical subject.
• yalad ("he fathered", H3205) — qal perfect, repeated three times (for Irad, Mehujael, Methushael), each time as an active, completed action with the father as subject.
• 'et (H0853) — the direct object marker, appearing before each son's name (Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, Lamech), marking them as the objects of the begetting.
• Mechuya'el / Mechiya'el ("Mehujael", H4232) — the same proper name appears twice in the verse with slightly different vocalization/spelling (מְחֽוּיָאֵל and מְחִיּיָאֵל), referring to the same individual as both son and father within the chain.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of four birth notices, each using the root yalad ("to bear/beget", H3205) but not uniformly in the same grammatical voice. The first instance, concerning Irad, uses the niphal (passive) form yivvaled, with Enoch marked by the preposition la- ("to") rather than as a grammatical subject — the clause structure is "and was born to Enoch, Irad," making Irad the subject of a passive verb. The three following instances (Irad→Mehujael, Mehujael→Methushael, Methushael→Lamech) switch to the qal (active) perfect yalad ("he fathered"), with the father as subject and the son introduced by the direct object marker 'et (H0853). This shift from passive to active construction within a single verse is a feature of the Hebrew that is not preserved in translations, which render all four links uniformly as "X fathered Y" or "Y was born to X."

The genealogy itself is strictly linear, each name serving as both the object of one birth-clause and the subject of the next, creating a continuous succession from Enoch to Lamech.

Differences between versions

The LXX and Vulgate render all four generational links uniformly with active verbs (ἐγεννήθη/ἐγέννησεν; genuit), smoothing over the Hebrew's shift from the niphal yivvaled (passive, for Irad) to the qal yalad (active, for the remaining three). The LXX also gives Greek-transliterated forms of the names that differ noticeably from the Hebrew: Γαιδάδ for 'Irad (H5897), Μαιήλ for Mechuya'el (H4232), and Μαθουσαλά for Methusha'el (H4967), the latter resembling the later name Methuselah in form.