Genesis 5:17

Summary

The verse closes the notice of Mahalalel's lifespan, stating that all his days totaled 895 years, after which he died. The sentence follows the standard formulaic pattern used throughout Genesis 5 for the genealogical list from Adam to Noah.

Key words

• va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive) with 3rd person masculine plural subject, referring back to yemei ("days"); it sets the total-count formula in motion.
• yemei ("days of", H3117) — masculine plural construct, linking directly to the following proper name; construct state means "days of Mahalalel," not "days" as a free-standing noun.
• chamesh ve-tish'im shanah ("five and ninety year", H2568/H8673/H8141) — cardinal numbers followed by the singular noun shanah ("year", H8141), a common Hebrew pattern where the counted noun stays singular even with plural numbers.
• u-shmoneh me'ot shanah ("and eight hundred(s) year", H8083/H3967/H8141) — the smaller number units precede the larger hundreds unit in the Hebrew sequence, with shanah again singular.
• va-yamot ("and he died", H4191) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive), 3rd person masculine singular, closing the formula; the same verb form used for every figure in the chapter's genealogy.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built entirely on the narrative vav-consecutive chain: va-yihyu ("and they were") opens the clause, and va-yamot ("and he died") closes it, both verbs carrying the same "and then" narrative force that structures the whole genealogical sequence in Genesis 5. Between these two verbs sits the numerical formula: kol yemei Mahalalel ("all the days of Mahalalel," construct chain) followed by the total number of years, expressed in two number-groups—ones/tens first (chamesh ve-tish'im shanah, "five and ninety year"), then hundreds (u-shmoneh me'ot shanah, "and eight hundred year"). In both groups, the noun shanah ("year", H8141) remains grammatically singular despite modifying plural quantities, a common feature of Hebrew numerical syntax that does not carry over into English or other target languages requiring plural "years."

The construct form yemei ("days of") ties the noun tightly to the proper name Mahalalel, meaning the phrase functions as a single unit, "the-days-of-Mahalalel," rather than two independent words. The repetition of shanah after both the tens/ones group and the hundreds group is a stylistic feature of the Hebrew text, marking each numerical block as syntactically complete before the next is added.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew presents the number sequence in ascending order — ones/tens (chamesh ve-tish'im, "ninety-five") stated first, then hundreds (shmoneh me'ot, "eight hundred") stated second. The LXX (Swete) reverses this order, giving ὀκτακόσια καὶ ἐνενήκοντα πέντε ("eight hundred and ninety-five") — hundreds first, then tens/ones — matching the order familiar in Greek numerical convention. The Vulgate (Clementine) follows the same descending order as the LXX: "octingenti nonaginta quinque" ("eight hundred ninety-five"). This is a difference in sequencing of the number-words between the Hebrew source and the Greek/Latin renderings, not a difference in the total value (895 in all three).