Who was Jared?

The story of Jared

Jared is one of the patriarchs before the flood, listed in the genealogy from Adam to Noah in Genesis 5. Genesis records that Mahalaleel was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Jared (Genesis 5:15), and that Mahalaleel had other sons and daughters afterward (Genesis 5:16). Jared was one hundred sixty-two years old when he became the father of Enoch (Genesis 5:18).

He lived eight hundred more years after Enoch's birth and had other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:19). Genesis gives his whole lifespan as nine hundred sixty-two years and records simply that he died (Genesis 5:20). Scripture records no deeds or words of Jared beyond these genealogical details.

Through Enoch he is an ancestor of Noah. Enoch became the father of Methuselah (Genesis 5:21), Methuselah of Lamech (Genesis 5:25), and Lamech of Noah (Genesis 5:28-29). The flood came in Noah's six hundredth year (Genesis 7:6).

By the ages given in Genesis 5, Jared had already died long before then. He did not live through the flood, and he had no part in building the ark, which was Noah's task (Genesis 6:14-22). The chronicler's genealogy from Adam lists him under the spelling Jered (1 Chronicles 1:2).

In the New Testament, Luke's genealogy of Jesus names him as the son of Maleleel, the Greek form of Mahalaleel, and the father of Enoch (Luke 3:37).

Name meaning

Descent

Name origin

Hebrew

Role

Patriarch before the flood

First mention

Genesis 5:15

Appearances in the Bible

6 mentions

Questions about Jared