Genesis 5:31

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Genesis 5:31 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 5:31 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/genesis/5/31.

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English Translation
All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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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
    All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    So all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

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)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

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

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    So all the dayes of Lamech were seuen hundreth seuentie and seuen yeeres: and he died.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech came to seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech are seven hundred and seventy and seven years, and he dieth.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And all the days of Lamech are seven hundred and seventy-seven years [[or seven hundred and fifty-three years]], and he dies.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    Lamech lived 777 years. Then he died.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    So all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And all the days of Lemech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And all the years of Lamech's life were seven hundred and seventy-seven: and he came to his end.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died.

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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לֶ֔מֶךְ
Lemek
H3929
“Lamech”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root of uncertain meaning

TWOT: None

Lamech = "powerful" - the 5th lineal descendant from Cain, husband of Adah and Zillah, father of sons, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain, and daughter, Naamah - father of Noah
  1. וַֽיְהִי֙ hâyâh H1961 “and · to be” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  2. כָּל kôl H3605 “all of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  3. יְמֵי yôwm H3117 “days of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct
  4. שֶׁ֤בַע shebaʻ H7651 “seven” Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  5. וְשִׁבְעִים֙ shibʻîym H7657 “and · seventy” Conjunction + Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute
  6. שָׁנָ֔ה shâneh H8141 “year” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  7. וּשְׁבַ֥ע shebaʻ H7651 “and · seven” Conjunction + Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  8. מֵא֖וֹת mêʼâh H3967 “hundred” Adjective, Cardinal number, Both, Plural, Absolute
  9. שָׁנָ֑ה shâneh H8141 “year” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  10. וַיָּמֹֽת mûwth H4191 “and · to die” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

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 →

11
words
9
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is לֶ֔מֶךְ Lamech H3929 — appearing just 11 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לֶ֔מֶךְ Lamech H3929 occurs in 10 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 2 verbs
  • 5 nouns
  • 4 adjectives

Verb forms

  • וַֽיְהִי֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַיָּמֹֽת Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • שֶׁ֤בַע seven H7651 ×2
  • שָׁנָ֔ה year H8141 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 15 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 11 Hebrew tokens and 13 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 5:31 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַֽיְהִי֙ כָּל יְמֵי לֶ֔מֶךְ שֶׁ֤בַע וְשִׁבְעִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁבַ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת

All the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, then he died.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 5:31 Septuagint · lemma form

καί γίγνομαι πᾶς ὁ ἡμέρα λαμεχ ἑπτακόσιοι καί πεντήκοντα τρεῖς ἔτος καί ἀποθνήσκω

And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and fifty-three years, and he died.

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)
    וַהֲווֹ כָּל יוֹמֵי לֶמֶךְ שְׁבַע מְאָה וְשַׁבְעִין וּשְׁבַע שְׁנִין וּמִית

    (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)
    וַהֲווֹ כָּל יוֹמֵי לֶמֶךְ שְׁבַע מְאָה וְשַׁבְעִין וּשְׁבַע שְׁנִין וּמִית

    And all the days of Lemek were seven hundred and seventy and seven years; and he died.

    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 5:31 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 5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

Ver. 31. And he died.] Death is that mistress of the world that will not be courted, nor yet cast off, by any. Hesiod may tell of Nectar and Ambrosia, the sweet wines of the gods, that will make men immortal. Pliny may prattle of the herb Moly, which hath virtue to make an old man young. Historians may write of certain fortunate islands where men live to an incredible age. But where lives that man that sees not death at length? {See Trapp on "Gen 5:5"} {See Trapp on "Gen 5:8"} {See Trapp on "Gen 5:17"}

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

31. and all the days of Lamech] Lamech’s life of 770 years was shorter than Methuselah’s by 192 years. His death occurred five years before the Flood. In the Samaritan text the date of his death coincided with the year of the Flood.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Old. It is wonderful if Noe had no children before this time; but he might have had many, whom the Scripture does not mention, either because they were dead before the deluge, or taking evil courses with the daughters of men, deserved to perish with them. Noe kept the three, who were born after God had foretold the deluge, with the greatest care, under his own eyes. St. Augustine (City of God xv. 20.) thinks, however, that many of the Patriarchs had no children till they were pretty far advanced in years. As Sem was born when Noe was 502, and Cham was the youngest, Japheth must have been the first-born. Compare Chap. x. 21, with Chap. ix. 24. There is no reason to suppose they were all born the same year. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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 11 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Lemek (“Lamech”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “Lamech” (Lemek) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. How does Genesis 4:18, which shares the word «Lamech», read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “seven” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  5. «וַֽיְהִי֙» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  6. Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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