Methuselah (biblical patriarch)

Methuselah is a patriarch in Genesis, traditionally said to have lived 969 years, the longest lifespan recorded in the Bible.

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Genesis: The first book of the Bible, narrating creation, the ancestors of Israel, and the origins of their people. Its genealogies and flood narrative contain the biblical account of Methuselah.
Biblical longevity: The unusually long lifespans attributed to people in biblical narratives, especially Genesis. Methuselah’s reported 969 years is the Bible’s greatest lifespan.
Genesis flood narrative: The account in Genesis of a flood that destroys life on earth, with Noah and his family surviving in an ark. Methuselah’s lifespan ends in the same year that some readings date the flood.
Literal interpretation: An approach that reads a text according to the direct sense of its words unless context indicates otherwise. A literal reading treats Methuselah’s stated age as an actual lifespan.
Antediluvian patriarchs: The figures named in Genesis as ancestors who lived before the biblical flood. Methuselah belongs to the lineage of long-lived ancestors before the flood.
Biblical chronology: The arrangement of biblical events and generations into a timeline. Methuselah’s age has been used in calculations of the time before the flood.
Masoretic Text: The authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible preserved by medieval Masoretes. Its Genesis chronology yields the familiar 969-year lifespan for Methuselah.
Symbolic interpretation: An approach that interprets textual details as conveying meaning beyond their direct reference. Symbolic readings consider whether the patriarchal ages express literary or theological ideas.
Enoch: A figure in Genesis who walked with God and was taken by God rather than described as dying. Genesis names Enoch as Methuselah’s father.
Septuagint: An ancient Greek translation of Jewish scriptures, made over several centuries before the Common Era. Its version of Genesis gives different ages in the patriarchal genealogies.