Genesis 5 · Verse 3

Genesis 5:3

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Genesis 5:3, King James Version

Genesis 5:3 in other translations

BSB	When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.
WEB	Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
ASV	And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
YLT	And Adam liveth an hundred and thirty years, and begetteth a son in his likeness, according to his image, and calleth his name Seth.
DARBY	And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth.
BBE	Adam had been living for a hundred and thirty years when he had a son like himself, after his image, and gave him the name of Seth:
Webster	And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

What does Genesis 5:3 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, etc. - The Scripture chronology especially in the ages of some of the antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs, has exceedingly puzzled chronologists, critics, and divines. The printed Hebrew text, the Samaritan, the Septuagint, and Josephus, are all different, and have their respective vouchers and defenders. The following tables of the genealogies of the patriarchs before and after the flood, according to the Hebrew, Samaritan, and Septuagint, will at once exhibit the discordances. For much satisfactory information on this subject I must refer to A New Analysis of Chronology, by the Rev. William Hales, D.D., 3 vols. 4th., London, 1809. And begat a son in his own likeness, after his image - Words nearly the same with those Gen 1:26 : Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. What this image and likeness of God were, we have already seen, and we may rest assured that the same image and likeness are not meant here. The body of Adam was created provisionally immortal, i.e. while he continued obedient he could not die; but his obedience was voluntary, and his state a probationary one. The soul of Adam was created in the moral image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. He had now sinned, and consequently had lost his moral resemblance to his Maker; he had also become mortal through his breach of the law. His image and likeness were therefore widely different at this time from what they were before; and his begetting children in this image and likeness plainly implies that they were imperfect like himself, mortal like himself, sinful and corrupt like himself. For it is impossible that he, being impure, fallen from the Divine image, could beget a pure and holy offspring, unless we could suppose it possible that a bitter fountain could send forth sweet waters, or that a cause could produce effects totally dissimilar from itself. What is said here of Seth might have been said of all the other children of Adam, as they were all begotten after his fall; but the sacred writer has thought proper to mark it only in this instance.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 5:1-5

Adam was made in the image of God; but when fallen he begat a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail, wretched, and mortal, like himself. Not only a man like himself, consisting of body and soul, but a sinner like himself. This was the reverse of that Divine likeness in which Adam was made; having lost it, he could not convey it to his seed. Adam lived, in all, 930 years; and then died, according to the…

Read the full comment on Genesis 5:1-5 →

Genesis 5:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַֽיְחִ֣יvay.Chiand he livedH2421

אָדָ֗ם'a.DamAdamH121

שְׁלֹשִׁ֤יםshe.lo.ShimthirtyH7970

וּמְאַת֙u.me.'Atand one hundredH3967

שָׁנָ֔הsha.Nahyear[s]H8141

וַיּ֥וֹלֶדvai.Yo.ledand he became a fatherH3205

בִּדְמוּת֖וֹbid.mu.Toin own likeness hisH1823

כְּצַלְמ֑וֹke.tzal.Moaccording to image hisH6754

וַיִּקְרָ֥אvai.yik.Ra'and he calledH7121

אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853

שְׁמ֖וֹshe.Moname hisH8034

שֵֽׁת\׃ShetSethH8352

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 5:3

Genesis 4:25
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
1 Corinthians 15:39
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Job 25:4
How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Ephesians 2:3
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Romans 5:12
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Job 14:4
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Psalms 14:2-3
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Job 15:14-16
What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
Luke 1:35
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Psalms 51:5
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A.M. 130. B.C. 3874. hundred.The chronology differs in the Hebrew Text, the Samaritan, the LXX., and Josephus. The LXX. adds 100 years to each of the patriarchs Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Enoch, before the birth of their sons; while they take 20 from the age of Methuselah, and add 6 to that of Lamech. Thus the space from the creation to the deluge is made 2,242 years, according to the Vatican copy, but 2,262 by the Alexandrine; and the sum total by Josephus is 2,265, by the Samaritan 1,307, and the Hebrew Text, 1,656. The sum total from the Deluge to the 70th year of Terah, according to these authorities, is, Heb. 292; Sam. 942; Sept. Vat. 1,172; Alex. 1,072, and Josephus 1,002.
in his.
Job 14:4; 15:14-16; 25:4; Ps 14:2,3; 51:5; Lu 1:35; Joh 3:6; Ro 5:12
1Co 15:39; Eph 2:3
called.
4:25

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Genesis 5:2
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Genesis 5:3
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
Genesis 5:4
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

Read all of Genesis 5

Genesis 5:3 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y vivió Adam ciento y treinta años, y engendró un hijo á su semejanza, conforme á su imagen, y llamó su nombre Seth.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et Adam vécut 130 ans, et engendra un fils à sa ressemblance, selon son image, et appela son nom Seth.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und Adam lebte 130 Jahre und zeugte einen Sohn in seinem Gleichnis, nach seinem Bilde, und gab ihm den Namen Seth.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Vixit autem Adam centum triginta annis: et genuit ad imaginem et similitudinem suam, vocavitque nomen ejus Seth.