Genesis 5:19

Summary

The verse states that after Jared fathered Enoch, he lived eight hundred more years, during which he fathered additional sons and daughters. It follows the recurring genealogical formula of Genesis 5, marking a lifespan segment after the birth of a named descendant.

Key words

• yechi ("he lived", H2421) — qal verb in narrative form, opening the clause with the standard "and he lived" pattern used throughout the Genesis 5 genealogies.
• acharei ("after", H0310A) — construct form meaning "after [the event of]," introducing the temporal clause that follows.
• holido ("fathered", H3205) — hiphil (causative) infinitive with the 3rd person suffix -o ("his"), literally "his causing-to-be-born," i.e., "his begetting," referring back to Jared.
• vayyoled ("and he fathered", H3205) — same root as holido but in hiphil narrative form, marking a new sequential action: the additional begetting of sons and daughters.
• banim ("sons", H1121A) and vanot ("daughters", H1323G) — masculine and feminine plural nouns joined by the conjunction u- ("and", H9002), forming the closing phrase common to each genealogical entry.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure places the temporal clause acharei holido et-Chanokh ("after his fathering Enoch") between the main verb yechi ("he lived") and the number of years, shemoneh me'ot shanah ("eight hundred years"). This construction—verb + subject + temporal clause + duration—is the fixed pattern repeated across the genealogy of Genesis 5. The infinitive holido with its pronominal suffix compactly expresses "his begetting," avoiding a separate subject pronoun; the grammar folds the actor into the verb form itself.

The final clause, vayyoled banim u-vanot ("and he fathered sons and daughters"), uses the same root H3205 as holido but shifts to the narrative (vav-consecutive) form vayyoled, marking this as a new, sequential event in the story rather than a background temporal clause. This grammatical shift distinguishes the specific fathering of Enoch (expressed via infinitive) from the general, ongoing fathering of unnamed sons and daughters (expressed via narrative verb), even though both use the identical hiphil root.

Differences between versions

The LXX (μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν Ἑνὼχ) and Vulgate (postquam genuit Henoch) both render the Hebrew temporal construction with "after" plus a verb of begetting, closely mirroring the Hebrew acharei holido. The BSB translation reorders the clauses, placing "after he had become the father of Enoch" before "Jared lived 800 years," while the Hebrew places vayechi Yered ("and Jared lived") first, followed by the temporal clause. The SBLIBRE similarly restructures the sentence, opening with "Después del nacimiento de Enoc" ("After the birth of Enoc") rather than following the Hebrew's verb-first order.