There are three main texts of the Old Testament, each giving a different chronology.
- Septuagint -
a Greek translation of the Old Testament made in the third century BC. It is so named because it was made by 70 men, or by some accounts 72 with 6 from each tribe. According to legend, these scholars worked independently and produced translations that miraculously agreed verbatim. It was universally regarded by Christians and Jews alike as the Old Testament until several centuries after Christ. The writers of the New Testament reled on it and often quoted it verbatim, and chronologists based their ancient dates upon it. Then the Jews, disliking its association with Christianity, retranslated it to be less favorable to Christianity and gradually abandoned it. Western Christians began using the Latin Vulgate, based on Hebrew rather than Greek texts, as variations began to creep into the copies of the Septuagint, but Eastern Christians, who spoke Greek for centuries more, continued using the Septuagint.
- Samaritan -
an obscure and relatively uninfluential Hebrew text of the Pentateuch (first 5 Old Testament books) preserved quite independently by the Jews of Samaria who arrived just after the northern kingdom was captured and carried away. These Samaritans rejected the authority of the southern kingdom of Judah and all the scriptures after the Pentateuch, and thus we have their separate version.
- Masoretic -
a Hebrew text meticulously compiled by Jewish scholars between the sixth and tenth centuries, with numerous devices to ensure that no transcriptive error could go undetected. Most Western Bibles, including the King James, have been translated from the Masoretic text or from St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate, which in turn drew mainly from it. The Jews consider this text to be the true, original Old Testament, and most modern scholars are strongly biased in its favor, despite the millennium of precedence of the Septuagint. It is said that these Hebrew scriptures were smuggled out of Jerusalem during the Roman siege of AD 70 by a priest hiding in a coffin, and when he escaped they were later copied and compiled for the first time into the modern Old Testament, with the apocrypha rejected as non-canonical and removed.
F
= age on becoming father of next patriarch
L = length of life
B = anno mundi birth
D = anno mundi death (or
translation, in the case of Enoch)
Septuagint |
Samaritan |
Masoretic |
||||||||||
| patriarch | ||||||||||||
| Adam |
230
|
930
|
0
|
930
|
130
|
930
|
0
|
930
|
130
|
930
|
0
|
930
|
| Seth |
205
|
912
|
230
|
1142
|
105
|
912
|
130
|
1042
|
105
|
912
|
130
|
1042
|
| Enosh |
190
|
905
|
435
|
1340
|
90
|
905
|
235
|
1140
|
90
|
905
|
235
|
1140
|
| Cainan |
170
|
910
|
625
|
1535
|
70
|
910
|
325
|
1235
|
70
|
910
|
325
|
1235
|
| Mahalalel |
165
|
895
|
795
|
1690
|
65
|
895
|
395
|
1290
|
65
|
895
|
395
|
1290
|
| Jared |
162
|
962
|
960
|
1922
|
62
|
847
|
460
|
1307
|
162
|
962
|
460
|
1422
|
| Enoch |
165
|
365
|
1122
|
1487
|
65
|
365
|
522
|
887
|
65
|
365
|
622
|
987
|
| Methuselah |
187
|
969
|
1287
|
2256
|
67
|
720
|
587
|
1307
|
187
|
969
|
687
|
1656
|
| Lamech |
188
|
753
|
1474
|
2227
|
53
|
653
|
654
|
1307
|
182
|
777
|
874
|
1651
|
| Noah |
502
|
950
|
1662
|
2612
|
502
|
950
|
707
|
1657
|
502
|
950
|
1056
|
2006
|
| Flood |
2262
|
1307
|
1656
|
|||||||||
| Shem |
100
|
600
|
2164
|
2764
|
100
|
600
|
1209
|
1809
|
100
|
600
|
1558
|
2158
|
| Arphachshad |
135
|
615
|
2264
|
2879
|
135
|
438
|
1309
|
1747
|
35
|
438
|
1658
|
2096
|
| Cainan |
130
|
460
|
2399
|
2859
|
||||||||
| Shelah |
130
|
460
|
2529
|
2989
|
130
|
433
|
1444
|
1877
|
30
|
433
|
1693
|
2126
|
| Eber |
134
|
504
|
2659
|
3163
|
134
|
404
|
1574
|
1978
|
34
|
464
|
1723
|
2187
|
| Peleg |
130
|
339
|
2793
|
3132
|
130
|
239
|
1708
|
1947
|
30
|
239
|
1757
|
1996
|
| Reu |
132
|
339
|
2923
|
3262
|
132
|
239
|
1838
|
2077
|
32
|
239
|
1787
|
2026
|
| Serug |
130
|
330
|
3055
|
3385
|
130
|
230
|
1970
|
2200
|
30
|
230
|
1819
|
2049
|
| Nahor |
79
|
208
|
3185
|
3393
|
79
|
148
|
2100
|
2248
|
29
|
148
|
1849
|
1997
|
| Terah |
70
|
205
|
3264
|
3469
|
70
|
145
|
2179
|
2393
|
70
|
205
|
1878
|
2083
|
| Abraham |
100
|
175
|
3334
|
3509
|
100
|
175
|
2249
|
2424
|
100
|
175
|
1948
|
2123
|
| Isaac |
60
|
180
|
3434
|
3614
|
60
|
180
|
2349
|
2529
|
60
|
180
|
2048
|
2228
|
| Jacob |
147
|
3494
|
3641
|
147
|
2409
|
2556
|
147
|
2108
|
2255
|
|||
Noah: Regarding the extra 2 years, compare Genesis 5:32, 7:6, and 11:10.
Arphachshad: Other LXX texts give L = 535 or 565.
Cainan: He is omitted from the other two texts, but is attested in Luke 3:36.
Eber: Other LXX texts give L = 404.
Nahor: Other LXX texts give F = 179, L = 304.
Terah: F for him is variously given as 70 or 130 (with corresponding change in L). 130 has historically been favored, but a majority of modern scholars favor 70.
There are of course still other variations within each text. It is assumed that there is no cumulative error from rounding ages to a whole year (or perhaps in some cases to the nearest 5 or 10 years).
Where to find this data in Genesis
- Adam to Noah, Gen. 5:1-32
- Noah to Shem, Gen. 5:32, 7:6, 8:13, 9:28-29, 11:10
- Shem to Terah, Gen. 11:10-26
- Terah to Abraham, Gen 11:26, 11:32 (cf. Gen. 12:4, Acts 7:4)
- Abraham, Gen. 16:16, 17:17, 21:5, 25:7
- Isaac, Gen. 21:5, 25:26, 35:28
- Jacob, Gen. 25:26, 47:28
The age of the world
Over the years the Old Testament chronology has been repeatedly used as a basis for calculating the age of the world. Dates reckoned from creation are said to be anno mundi (AM), or in the year of the world, on the model of anno domini (AD), in the year of the Lord. In Latin years are numbered beginning with 1, so that 1 BC is immediately followed by AD 1. Some authors likewise place creation in AM 1, but the above table is based on creation in AM 0. Among these many computations, the following BC dates for the creation have gained popular acceptance:- 3760 BC, Jewish Era (Tevit) (based on Masoretic)
- 4004 BC, Ussher (based on Masoretic)
- 5198 BC, Eusebius (based on Septuagint)
- 5411 BC, Hales (based on Septuagint)
- 5501 BC, Africanus and Hippolytus of Thebes (based on Septuagint)
- 5508 BC, Byzantine Era (based on Septuagint)