Genesis 5:14

Summary

The verse closes the genealogical notice for Kenan, stating the total span of his life — 910 years — using the formula "all the days of X," followed by the notice of his death. This is part of the repeated structure used throughout the Genesis 5 genealogy.

Key words

• yehi ("they were", H1961) — verb qal, narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking sequential narration; here it introduces the summary total of years.
• yemei ("days of", H3117G) — masculine plural construct, linking to the following proper name; the construct form ties "days" grammatically to "Kenan."
• 'eser ("ten", H6235) and tesha' ("nine", H8672, construct form) — cardinal numbers; tesha' is in construct state, binding it directly to me'ot ("hundreds").
• me'ot ("hundreds", H3967) — feminine plural of "hundred," combined with tesha' to form "nine hundred."
• vayamot ("and he died", H4191) — verb qal, narrative form, closing the formula with the report of death.

What the text says

The sentence follows a fixed genealogical pattern: a narrative verb (yehi, "they were") introduces the total, expressed through the construct chain kol-yemei Qeinan ("all the days of Kenan"), followed by the numerical total, and closed with a second narrative verb (vayamot, "and he died"). The numbers are stated in the order "ten years and nine hundred(s) year," meaning the smaller unit (ten) precedes the larger unit (nine hundred) in the Hebrew sentence, though the total value is the same regardless of order: 910.

The final word sha^nah ("year", H8141) appears in the singular after "nine hundred," a grammatical feature typical of Hebrew number constructions where the counted noun can remain singular after certain compound numbers. The verb vayamot is grammatically identical in form to the vayehi that opens the verse, both being narrative (vav-consecutive) qal forms, which gives the verse a symmetrical opening-and-closing structure: "and it was... and he died."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text presents the numbers in the sequence "ten and nine hundred years," while the LXX (ἐννακόσια καὶ δέκα, "nine hundred and ten") and the Vulgate (nongenti decem, "nine hundred ten") reverse this order, stating the larger unit before the smaller one. The total numerical value (910) is the same across all three textual traditions; only the sequence of presentation differs.