1 Chronicles 1:3 — Word Study
WLCחֲנ֥וֹךְ מְתוּשֶׁ֖לַח לָֽמֶךְ׃
BSAEnochChănôwk [Hanoch, dedicated] MethuselahMᵉthûwshelach [before the flood, a man of great age] Lamech, [Noah]Lemek [the father of Noah]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| חֲנ֥וֹךְ | Enoch | Noun proper masculine |
| מְתוּשֶׁ֖לַח | Methuselah | Noun proper masculine |
| לָֽמֶךְ׃ | Lamech | Noun proper masculine |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech. |
| KJV | Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, |
| ASV | Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, |
| YLT | Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, |
| WEB | Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, |
| BBE | Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech; |
The translations agree on the names listed in this verse.
The verse consists of a single main clause listing three names.
2 commentators on this verse
Jamieson, Cambridge & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — 1 Chronicles 1:3
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Genealogy of the Patriarchsgenerated
1 Chronicles 1:3 lists Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech as part of the lineage leading to Noah. This genealogy emphasizes the continuity of God's plan through these key figures, who played significant roles in the early history of humanity, as seen in Genesis 5:21-24 and Hebrews 11:5.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 5:21–24 | When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. |
| 2 | Hebrews 11:5 | By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. |
| 3 | Jude 1:14 | Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones |
| 4 | Genesis 5:25–27 | When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. |
| 5 | Luke 3:37 | the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 7 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — חֲנוֹךְ, cha.Nokhgenerated
The name חֲנוֹךְ (Chanokh) means 'dedicated.' It refers to several biblical figures, most notably a son of Jared who walked with God and was taken to heaven without dying, as seen in Genesis 5:24.
The parsing as a noun proper masculine indicates that this is a personal name, specifically identifying a significant individual in the biblical narrative.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
Translations generally agree on the names listed in this verse.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of this verse is straightforward, consisting of a noun phrase that lists the names of three individuals: חֲנ֥וֹךְ, מְתוּשֶׁ֖לַח, and לָֽמֶךְ.
The simplicity of the structure reflects the nature of genealogical records, focusing on the lineage rather than complex grammatical constructs.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates חֲנוֹךְ as ενωξ, מְתוּשֶׁ֖לַח as μαθουσαλα, and לָֽמֶךְ as λαμεξ. This choice of Greek words maintains the integrity of the names while adapting them for a Greek-speaking audience.
The translation shows a consistent effort to preserve the original names, indicating their significance in the biblical narrative.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
1 Chronicles 1:3 lists three important figures: Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech. Enoch means 'dedicated,' Methuselah is known as a man of great age before the Flood, and Lamech is recognized as the father of Noah. These names connect to the early history of humanity.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Enoch was a significant biblical figure known for his close relationship with God; he was taken to heaven without dying, as noted in Genesis 5:24.
Methuselah's name means 'man of the dart' and he is noted for living a long life before the Flood.
Lamech is important as he is the father of Noah, who is a key figure in the biblical narrative of the Flood.
These names represent the lineage leading to Noah, emphasizing the continuity of God's plan through generations.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can we learn from the lives of Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech about faithfulness and legacy?
- How do genealogies in the Bible help us understand the unfolding of God's plan?
- What significance do you think Enoch's unique relationship with God holds for us today?
- In what ways can we honor the legacy of those who came before us in our own lives?
The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it
Early commentary on these names highlights their meanings and significance in biblical history.
Lambech means “humility, or striking, or struck, or humble.” Who was the son of Mathusalem, means “the sending forth of death,” or “he died,” also “he asked.” Enoch is interpreted “dedication.”Early Church Fathers on 1 Chronicles 1 →
Commentators on this verse — 2 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on 1 Chronicles 1:3 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryKenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, No JFB commentary on these verses.
Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Chronicles 1 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges3. Henoch] “Enoch,” the spelling given in Gen. (A.V. and R.V.) is less correct. In 1 Chronicles 1:33 the R.V. gives the still better form “Hanoch,” but it does not venture to alter the form of the name of the famous Enoch (Genesis 5:21).
Read Cambridge on 1 Chronicles 1 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech.
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Tyndale line
Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech;
Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Henoch, Methushelah, Lamech,
Strictly literal
Enoch, Methushelah, Lemech,
Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Enoch, Methushelah, Lemech,
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech.
From the Latin
Henoc, Mathusale, Lamech,
Simplified
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech;
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the names listed: חֲנ֥וֹךְ, מְתוּשֶׁ֖לַח, and לָֽמֶךְ. This agreement highlights the stability of these genealogical records across different textual traditions.
חֲנ֥וֹךְ מְתוּשֶׁ֖לַח לָֽמֶךְ׃
3 of the 3 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in 1 Chronicles 1:3
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
חֲנוֹךְ (Chanowk) refers to several figures in the Old Testament, including the son of Cain, the pious Enoch who walked with God, a son of Midian, and a son of Reuben. The name means 'dedicated.' The entries highlight different genealogical connections and significant events, such as Enoch's unique relationship with God.
חֲנוֹךְ n.pr.m.
son of Cain
son of Jered (line of Seth), the pious Enoch, who walked with God and was taken by him
a son of Midian
a son of Reuben
base
H2585 חֲנוֹךְ . son of Cain
. son of Jered (line of Seth), the pious Enoch, who walked with God and was taken by him
. a son of Midian
. a son of Reuben
2585 Chanowk khan-oke'
from 2596; initiated; Chanok, an antediluvian
patriach:--Enoch.
see HEBREW for 02596
חֲנוֹךְ (cha.nokh) — Enoch.
A man living at the time before the Flood, first mentioned at Gen.4.17;
son of: Cain (H7014B);
father of: Irad (H5897)
§ Enoch = "dedicated"
1) eldest son of Cain
2) son of Jared and father of Methuselah whom God took home to heaven without dying
3) the city which Cain built and named after his son Enoch (after himself)
Hanoch = "dedicated"
4) a son of Midian, the third child
5) the eldest son of Reuben
חֲנוֹךְ (cha.nokh) — Enoch.
A man living at the time before the Flood, first mentioned at Gen.5.18;
son of: Jared (H3382);
father of: Methuselah (H4968)
Also named: Enōch (Ἐνώχ "Enoch" G1802)
§ Enoch = "dedicated"
1) eldest son of Cain
2) son of Jared and father of Methuselah whom God took home to heaven without dying
3) the city which Cain built and named after his son Enoch (after himself)
Hanoch = "dedicated"
4) a son of Midian, the third child
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
e'-nok (chanokh, "initiated"; Henoch):
(1) The eldest son of Cain (Ge 4:17,18).
(2) The son of Jared and father of Methuselah, seventh in descent from Adam in the line of Seth (Jude 1:14). He is said (Ge 5:23) to have lived 365 years, but the brief record of his life is comprised in the words, "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Ge 5:24). The expression "walked with God" denotes a devout life, lived in close communion with God, while the reference to his end has always been understood, as by the writer of He, to mean, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him" (
Enoch
Initiated. (1.) The eldest son of Cain (Gen. 4:17), who built a city east of Eden in the land of Nod, and called it “after the name of his son Enoch.” This is the first “city” mentioned in Scripture.
(2.) The son of Jared, and father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:21; Luke 3:37). His father was one hundred and sixty-two years old when he was born. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch “walked with God three hundred years” (Gen. 5:22-24), when he was translated without tasting death. His whole life on earth was three hundred and sixty-five years. He was the “seventh from Adam” (Jude 1:14), as distinguished from the son…
(dedicated). The eldest son of Cain, (Genesis 4:17) who called after his name the city which he built. (Genesis 4:18) (B.C. 3870.) The son of Jared and father of Methuselah. (Genesis 5:21) ff.; Luke 3:37 (B.C. 3378-3013.) In the Epistle of Jude (Jude 1:14) he described as "the seventh from Adam;" and the number is probably noticed as conveying the idea of divine completion and rest, while Enoch was himself a type of perfected humanity. After the birth of Methuselah it is said, (Genesis 5:22-24) that Enoch "walked with God three hundred years... and he was not; for God…
1. A son of Cain, in honor of whom the first city named in the Bible was called Enoch, Ge 4:17.
2. "The seventh from Adam," and the father of Methuselah; eminent as a patriarch who lived near to God, through faith in a Redeemer to come, Heb 11:5,13. It was a testimony to his rare piety in an ungodly age that he was translated without seeing death, like Elijah. He had lived only three hundred and sixty years, Ge 5:18-24 Jude 1:14,15, quotes a traditionary prophecy of Enoch, showing his belief in a judgment to come. There is an apocryphal book bearing the name of Enoch, in which similar language occurs. It was probably written by some devout Christian of the first century, and…
מְתוּשֶׁלַח (Methushelach) refers to Methuselah, a biblical figure known as a descendant of Seth. The name is derived from roots meaning 'man of a dart.' He is noted as the son of Enoch and father of Lamech, first mentioned in Genesis 5:21. The lexicons provide consistent details about his lineage and the meaning of his name.
מְתוּשֶׁ֫לַח n.pr.m. descendant of Seth (? man of the dart)
base
H4968 מְתוּשֶׁלַח descendant of Seth
4968 Mthuwshelach meth-oo-sheh'-lakh
from 4962 and 7973; man of a dart; Methushelach, an
antediluvian patriarch:--Methuselah.
see HEBREW for 04962
see HEBREW for 07973
מְתוּשֶׁ֫לַח (me.tu.she.lach) — Methuselah.
A man living at the time before the Flood, first mentioned at Gen.5.21;
son of: Enoch (H2585H);
father of: Lamech (H3929H)
Also named: Mathousala (Μαθουσάλα "Methuselah" G3103)
§ Methuselah = "man of the dart"
son of Enoch, 6th in descent from Seth, and father of Lamech
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
me-thu'-se-la, me-thu'-se-la (methushelach, "man of the javelin"): A descendant of Seth, the son of Enoch, and father of Lamech (Ge 5:21 ff; 1Ch 1:3; Lu 3:37). Methuselah is said to have lived 969 years; he is therefore the oldest of the patriarchs and the oldest man. It is doubtful whether these long years do not include the duration of a family or clan.
Methuselah
Man of the dart, the son of Enoch, and grandfather of Noah. He was the oldest man of whom we have any record, dying at the age of nine hundred and sixty-nine years, in the year of the Flood (Gen. 5:21-27; 1 Chr. 1:3).
(man of the dart), the son of Enoch, sixth in descent from Seth, and father of Lamech. (Genesis 5:25-27)
Son of Enoch, and father of Lamech. He lived 969 years, a longer life than any other on record, and died within the year before the deluge, Ge 5:21,22.
לֶ֫מֶךְ (Lamech) refers to two antediluvian patriarchs in the Old Testament. One is a descendant of Cain, son of Methushael, and the other is a descendant of Seth, son of Methuselah, and father of Noah. The name is associated with the meaning 'powerful' and is first mentioned in Genesis 4:18 and Genesis 5:25.
לֶ֫מֶךְ n.pr.m.
son of מְתוּשָׁאֵל (Cainite)
son of מְתוּשֶׁלַח (Sethite)
base
H3929 לֶ֫מֶךְ . son of מְתוּשָׁאֵל (Cainite)
. son of מְתוּשֶׁלַח (Sethite)
3929 Lemek leh'-mek
from an unused root of uncertain meaning; Lemek, the name of
two antediluvian patriarchs:--Lamech.
לֶ֫מֶךְ (le.mekh) — Lamech.
A man living at the time before the Flood, first mentioned at Gen.4.18;
son of: Methushael (H4967); married to Adah (H5711) and Zillah (H6741);
father of: Jabal (H2989), Jubal (H3106), Tubal-cain (H8423), Naamah (H5279)
§ Lamech = "powerful"
1) the 5th lineal descendant from Cain, husband of Adah and Zillah, father of sons, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain, and daughter, Naamah
2) father of Noah
לֶ֫מֶךְ (le.mekh) — Lamech.
A man living at the time before the Flood, first mentioned at Gen.5.25;
son of: Methuselah (H4968);
father of: Noah (H5146)
Also named: Lamech (Λάμεχ "Lamech" G2984)
§ Lamech = "powerful"
1) the 5th lineal descendant from Cain, husband of Adah and Zillah, father of sons, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain, and daughter, Naamah
2) father of Noah
N-proper — Noun proper masculineHNpm
la'-mek (lemekh; Lamech, "a strong youth"?):
(1) The name is first mentioned in Ge 4:18-24. Here Lamech, the son of Methushael, is named as the last of the descendants of Cain. He was the father of Jabel, Jubal, Tubal-cain, and Naamah. As the husband of two wives, namely, Adah and Zillah, he furnishes the first recorded instance of polygamy. It is very instructive to note that this "father of polygamy" at once becomes the first blustering tyrant and a braggadocio; we are fully permitted to draw this conclusion from his so-called "swordlay" (Ge 4:23 f). He does not put his trust in God, but in the weapons and implements invented by his sons, or rather these instruments, enhancing the physical and material powers of man, are his God. He glories in them and misconstrues the Divine…
Lamech
The strikerdown; the wild man. (1.) The fifth in descent from Cain. He was the first to violate the primeval ordinance of marriage (Gen. 4:18-24). His address to his two wives, Adah and Zillah (4:23, 24), is the only extant example of antediluvian poetry. It has been called “Lamech’s sword-song.” He was “rude and ruffianly,” fearing neither God nor man. With him the curtain falls on the race of Cain. We know nothing of his descendants.
(2.) The seventh in descent from Seth, being the only son of Methuselah. Noah was the oldest of his several sons (Gen. 5:25-31; Luke 3:36).
(powerful), properly Lemech. The fifth lineal descendant from Cain. (Genesis 4:18-24) He is the only one except Enoch, of the posterity of Cain, whose history is related with some detail. His two wives, Adah and Zillah, and his daughter Naamah, are, with Eve, the only antediluvian women whose names are mentioned by Moses. His three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-cain, are celebrated in Scripture as authors of useful inventions. The remarkable poem which Lamech uttered may perhaps be regarded as Lamech’s son of exultation on the invention of the sword by his son Tubal-cain, in the possession of which he foresaw a great advantage to himself and his family over any enemies. The father of Noah. (Genesis 5:29)
1. Ge 4:18-24, a descendant of Cain, in the fifth generation, and ancestor of numerous posterity distinguished for a skill in agriculture, music, and several mechanic arts. He is the first polygamist on record. His address to his two wives is the oldest specimen of poetry extant, and is a good illustration of Hebrew parallelism.
"Adah and Zillah,
Hear my voice;
Ye wives of Lamech,
Hearken unto my speech.
I have slain a man
To my wounding,
And [or even] a young man
To my hurt.
If Cain shall be avenged
Seven-fold,
Truly Lamech
Seventy and seven fold."
Many explanations of this abrupt fragment have been suggested. The
most satisfactory, perhaps, is that Lamech had accidentally or in
self-defense killed a man, and was exposed to the vengeance of "the
avenger of blood;" but quiets the fears of his wives by saying of