I wonder if there is enough interest for this to work:

I'd like to take a long slow look at the word “generation” in the Bible, considering what is meant by the word in the context of each individual occurrence.

May I be permitted to make serial posts of an occurrence of the word per day, or something like that?

That sounds like a profitable study!

Thanks, GP.

Yours is the opinion that matters most to me re this project, which was inspired by comments you made on another thread. I was intrigued by what you wrote, and I wish to learn more about what you see in the biblical texts.

John.

My search tool is The Eerdmans Analytical Concordance to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, compiled by Richard E. Whitaker.

My text is the English Standard Version.

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greeks words, which are rendered “generation” or “generations” in the RSV (search tool) and the ESV (text/context), will be copied from the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), The Septuagint (LXX), and The Greek New Testament (Nestle-Aland).

My source for textual exegesis by professional scholars is Commentary on the Old Testament by C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch.

My source for definition of Hebrew and Aramaic words is A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Based on the First, Second, and Third Editions of the Koehler-Baumgartner Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, edited by William L. Holladay.

I invite GP and others to provide input from supplementary sources.

Genesis 2

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. (ESV)

In Genesis 2:4, the word rendered “generations” is תולדות.

I invite GP to give contemporary pronunciation and/or transliteration. What I was taught when I learned Hebrew at Duke University in the mid 20th century is not what is currently the norm.

The LXX has γεσεως (a grammatical form of genea).

Holliday gives this: collective plural : -1. (line) of descendants (i.e., genealogical list from ancestor) Gn 5:1 & often ; - 2. (one’s) generation, contempories Gn 6:9 ; - 3. story of development of generations > history Gn 37:2 ; > origin Gn 2:4 ; > order of birth Ex 28:10.

So, in the context of the creation story, the sense of the word תולדות is origin.

תולדות (introduced in the prior post above) is one of three words in the Hebrew Bible which are rendered “generation” or “generations” in English versions.

The other two words are Hebrew דור and Aramaic דר. We will consider these when we come to them.

A note about the pace of new posts on this thread:

I hope to keep to a schedule of at least one new post per day, but in the near future there may be temporary pauses in that prospective pace, for medical reasons.

Tomorrow I go to see a surgeon to consider the findings of a CT scan. If a need for surgery is indicated, there will be a period of recovery that may affect the rate of new posts.

‘Just don’t want anyone to think I have abandoned this as a long-range project, which I hope to persevere in all the way through to Hebrews 3:10 – or maybe even 1 Maccabees 2:61 (Whitaker lists references in the Apocrypha after those in the New Testament).

I am looking forward to this John.

Thanks, GP.

I'm looking forward to your contributions.

Well, I know zero Hebrew, and just enough Greek to be dangerous, so I do not plan to contribute. But I look forward to the contributions of abler scholars.

Genesis 5

Adam's Descendants to Noah

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. (ESV)

The word rendered “generations” in Genesis 5:1 is תולדות.

The rendering in the LXX is γεσεως (an inflection of genea).

Per Holladay, in the context of Genesis 5:1, the sense of תולדות is collective plural : -1. (line) of descendants (i.e., genealogical list from ancestor).

This is gonna be good.

Today @ 12:52 PM post located here
Faramir:

Well, I know zero Hebrew, and just enough Greek to be dangerous, so I do not plan to contribute. But I look forward to the contributions of abler scholars.

Happy to have your here, Faramir!

Today @ 12:58 PM post located here
Dee Dee Warren:

This is gonna be good.

Thanks for the encouragement, Dee Dee!

I was wondering if you would be working through the תולדות sectoions, my one question is why not start with 2:4?

"These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens."

Today @ 05:31 PM post located here
GrayPilgrim:

I was wondering if you would be working through the תולדות sections, my one question is why not start with 2:4?

"These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens."

I did!

See post # 4

Thanks, I missed it somehow and went straight ot #5.

GP,

I was wondering if you would be working through the תולדות sections...

The search word is "generation", so the Hebrew and Aramaic words will be not be considered in separate sections.