Genesis 5:13
וַיְחִי קֵינָן אַחֲרֵי הוֹלִידוֹ אֶת־מַֽהֲלַלְאֵל אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה וּשְׁמֹנֶה מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד בָּנִים וּבָנֽוֹת׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיְחִ֣י קֵינָ֗ן אַחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת־מַֽהֲלַלְאֵ֔ל אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת׃
καὶ ἔζησεν Καινὰν μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν Μαλελεὴλ ἑπτακόσια καὶ τεσσεράκοντα ἔτη, καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et vixit Cainan, postquam genuit Malaleel, octingentis quadraginta annis, genuitque filios et filias.
Después del nacimiento de Mejalalel, Cainán vivió ochocientos cuarenta años, y tuvo otros hijos e hijas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y vivió Cainán, después que engendró á Mahalaleel, ochocientos y cuarenta años: y engendró hijos é hijas.
And after he had become the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 5:13 states that after Kenan (Kenan, H7018) fathered Mahalalel (Mahalal'El, H4111G), he lived an additional 840 years, during which he fathered more sons and daughters. The verse follows the genealogical formula pattern typical of Genesis 5.
Key words
- va-yechi ("and he lived", H2421) — qal narrative verb form marking the main clause of the genealogical report, introducing Kenan's remaining lifespan.
- acharei ("after", H0310A) — construct form governing the following infinitive clause, temporally anchoring the count of years to the birth of Mahalalel.
- holido ("his fathering", H3205) — hiphil infinitive with 3ms pronominal suffix -o ("his"), a causative form indicating Kenan as the one who caused the birth; the suffix specifies the subject of the infinitive without a separate pronoun.
- arba'im shanah ("forty year[s]", H0705 + H8141) — cardinal number with singular noun shanah, combined with shemoneh me'ot shanah ("eight hundred years") to produce the total 840-year figure.
- va-yyoled ("and he fathered", H3205) — hiphil narrative verb, same root as holido but in finite narrative form, reporting the additional offspring after the stated year count.
What the text says
The verse is structured in two temporal segments joined by narrative vav-forms. The first segment, introduced by va-yechi ("and he lived", H2421), is qualified by the temporal clause acharei holido et-Mahalal'El ("after his fathering Mahalalel") — here the infinitive holido (H3205) carries a pronominal suffix that identifies Kenan as the subject of the fathering event, a construction Hebrew uses instead of a separate subordinate clause with an explicit pronoun. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) marks Mahalal'El as the recipient of the action, though it is not translated.
The numeral phrase arba'im shanah u-shemoneh me'ot shanah ("forty years and eight hundred years") gives the total span, built by joining two number+noun units with the conjunction u- (H9002). The noun shanah (H8141) appears twice, once with each numeral component, following the compound-number pattern seen elsewhere in Genesis 5.
The second clause, va-yyoled banim u-vanot ("and he fathered sons and daughters"), uses the same hiphil root as holido but now in the narrative finite form va-yyoled (H3205), reporting a general, unspecified continuation of offspring rather than a single named individual. The nouns banim ("sons", H1121A) and banot ("daughters", H1323G) are grammatically plural and unmarked by the object particle, unlike Mahalal'El earlier, since they are indefinite here.
Differences between versions
The LXX gives ἑπτακόσια καὶ τεσσεράκοντα ἔτη ("seven hundred and forty years"), where the Hebrew states arba'im shanah u-shemoneh me'ot shanah ("eight hundred and forty years"). The Vulgate's octingentis quadraginta annis ("eight hundred and forty years") matches the Hebrew figure rather than the LXX's total.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.