Genesis 5:20

Summary

The verse closes the genealogical notice of Jared by stating the total sum of his days — nine hundred sixty-two years — and records his death using the standard narrative formula of the genealogy chain in Genesis 5.

Key words

• va-yih.yu ("and they were", H1961) — qal verb with narrative vav, plural, introducing the total count of "days" as a completed state.
• ye.mei- ("days of", H3117) — construct plural, linking to Yered; the phrase "days of Jared" means his lifespan, not isolated days.
• she.tayim ("two", H8147) — feminine dual numeral, the units figure in the compound number.
• me.'ot ("hundreds", H3967) — feminine plural, combined with te.sha' ("nine", H8672, construct) to form "nine hundred."
• va-yamot ("and he died", H4191) — qal verb with narrative vav, the closing formula shared by each patriarch's entry in this chapter.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around the verb va-yihyu ("and they were," H1961), whose plural subject is kol-yemei-Yered ("all the days of Jared," H3605/H3117/H3382) — literally "all the days of Jared were." This construct chain treats "days" as a collective noun counted by the numerals that follow, rather than as a subject performed by Jared himself; grammatically the days "are" a certain quantity, not "Jared lived" a certain quantity, though the sense conveyed is the length of his life.

The number itself is built in two stages: first shtayim ve-shishim shanah ("two and sixty year[s]," H8147/H8346/H8141), then u-tsha' me'ot shanah ("and nine hundred year[s]," H8672/H3967/H8141). Hebrew numeral syntax here places the smaller unit (62) before the larger (900), each attached to its own singular noun shanah ("year," H8141), a repetition typical of Hebrew number constructions where the noun is restated with each numeral block rather than stated once for the whole sum.

The clause ends with va-yamot ("and he died," H4191), a short qal narrative verb that closes this entry exactly as it closes each patriarch's notice in the chapter, marking the transition from the lifespan report to the fact of death without further elaboration.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Septuagint) renders the number as "nine hundred and sixty-two" (ἐννακόσια καὶ ἑξήκοντα δύο), reordering the sequence so that the larger unit (900) precedes the smaller (62), reversing the Hebrew's order of "sixty-two... nine hundred." The Vulgate follows a similar order to the LXX ("nongenti sexaginta duo," "nine hundred sixty-two"). Modern versions (BSB, RV1909) present the total as a single continuous number, "962 years," without preserving the two-stage construct pattern visible in the Hebrew text.