Genesis 5:13

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Genesis 5:13 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Genesis 5:13 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/genesis/5/13.

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English Translation
Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters
World English Bible · Public Domain
Highlights
  • 1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then after he fathered Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years, and he fathered sons and daughters.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

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Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    And after he had become the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    And after he had become the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    and Kenan lived after he begat Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    and Kenan lived after he begat Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And Kenan liued, after he begate Mahalaleel, eight hundreth and fourtie yeeres, and begate sonnes and daughters.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And Cainan lived after he begot Malaleel, eight hundred forty years, and begot sons and daughters.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And Cainan liveth after his begetting Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And Cainan lives after his begetting Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years [[or seven hundred and forty years]], and begets sons and daughters.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then after he fathered Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years, and he fathered sons and daughters.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And Cainan lived after he had begotten Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of other sons and daughters
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    Kenan lived another 840 years after Mehalalel was born, and had other sons and daughters.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And after the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan went on living for eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters:
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And Kenan lived after he begot Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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קֵינָ֗ן
Qêynân
H7018
“Kenan”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from the same as H7064

TWOT: None

Kenan = "possession" - son of Enosh and father of Mahalaleel - also 'Cainan'
  1. וַיְחִ֣י châyâh H2421 “and · to live” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  2. אַחֲרֵי֙ ʼachar H310 “after” Preposition
  3. הוֹלִיד֣וֹ yâlad H3205 “to bear · him” Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  4. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  5. מַֽהֲלַלְאֵ֔ל Mahălalʼêl H4111 “Mahalaleel” Noun, Proper
  6. אַרְבָּעִ֣ים ʼarbâʻîym H705 “forty” Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute
  7. שָׁנָ֔ה shâneh H8141 “year” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  8. וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה shᵉmôneh H8083 “and · eight” Conjunction + Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  9. מֵא֖וֹת mêʼâh H3967 “hundred” Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute
  10. שָׁנָ֑ה shâneh H8141 “year” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  11. וַיּ֥וֹלֶד yâlad H3205 “and · to bear” Conjunction + Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  12. בָּנִ֖ים bên H1121 “sons” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  13. וּבָנֽוֹת bath H1323 “and · daughters” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

14
words
12
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is קֵינָ֗ן Kenan H7018 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

  • אַרְבָּעִ֣ים forty H705

Shared distinctive vocabulary

קֵינָ֗ן Kenan H7018 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 3 verbs
  • 6 nouns
  • 3 adjectives
  • 1 preposition
  • 1 particle

Verb forms

  • וַיְחִ֣י Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • הוֹלִיד֣וֹ Hiphil · Infinitive Construct
  • וַיּ֥וֹלֶד Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • הוֹלִיד֣וֹ to bear H3205 ×2
  • שָׁנָ֔ה year H8141 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 21 words from the Hebrew and 18 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 14 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 5:13 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְחִ֣י קֵינָ֗ן אַחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת מַֽהֲלַלְאֵ֔ל אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת

Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 5:13 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ζάω καιναν μετά ὁ γεννάω αὐτός ὁ μαλελεηλ ἑπτακόσιοι καί τεσσαράκοντα ἔτος καί γεννάω υἱός καί θυγάτηρ

And Cainan lived after his begetting Maleleel, seven hundred and forty years, and he begot sons and daughters.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

2

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וַחֲיָא קֵינָן בָּתַר דְּאוֹלִיד יָת מַהֲלַלְאֵל תַּמְנֵי מְאָה וְאַרְבְּעִין שְׁנִין וְאוֹלִיד בְּנִין וּבְנָן

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וַחֲיָא קֵינָן בָּתַר דְאוֹלִיד יַת מַהֲלַלְאֵל תְּמָנֵי מְאָה וְאַרְבְּעִין שְׁנִין וְאוֹלִיד בְּנִין וּבְנָן

    And Kenan lived after he had begotten Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters.

    Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 5:13 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Gen 5:13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:

Ver. 13. And begat sons and daughters.] Everything is generative of itself, says the philosopher. {a} And, that man is unworthy to be born, of whom another is not born, says the orator.

{a} Propriissimum opus viventis est, generare sibi simile . - Arist.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years, and he died. He also is spoken well of by the Arabic writers (p) as a good governor, a pious man that walked in the way of righteousness; and when he died blessed his children, and adjured them by the blood of Abel, not to suffer any of theirs to descend from the mountain to the sons of Cain: according to Bishop Usher he died A. M. 1290.

(p) Elmacinus, & Patricides in ib. p. 234.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 14 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Qêynân (“Kenan”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “Kenan” (Qêynân) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. This is the first place “forty” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
  3. How does Genesis 5:9, which shares the word «Kenan», read alongside this verse?
  4. What does the repetition of “to bear” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  5. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  6. «וַיְחִ֣י» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  7. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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