Years from Creation to Noah's Flood

Genesis chapter five provides the genealogy from Adam to Noah including the years between each generation. This can be used to determine the number of years between creation and the flood. A simple addition of these ages suggests that there were 1656 years from creation to the flood. However, there are four issues that make this calculation subject to some variation.

Ancient Calendars: Ancient calendars were not based on 365.2425 days per year like modern calendars. Converting from ancient calendars can produce slight differences. If their calendar was 360 days (probably the worst case) it could be 5.2425 days too short. This produces a 1.44% error (5.2425 / 365.2425 = 0.0144). The calendar error could accumulate to a maximum of 24 years and would decrease the actual time from 1656 to 1632 years. However, we do not know what calendar they used, and it could be equivalent to ours.

Ages to Calendar Years: The text provides the ages of people and not calendar years. Converting from ages to calendar years can accumulate an error of up to one year per generation. The way we count ages, a person is 0 when born and remains that age until one year later. Then they are 1 year old for the next 365 days. If they have a child when they are 25 years old, then 25.000 to 25.997 calendar years have elapsed depending on whether the child is born exactly on their 25th birthday or one day before their 26th birthday. Thus, the maximum change this introduces is 10 years (ten generations). This would increase the time from 1656 to 1666 years.

However, it is also possible that their society counted ages starting at one. In other words, a newborn started his first year of life when born. Then after a year he became two (entering his second year of life). If they counted ages this way, then the maximum change would decrease the time from 1656 to 1646 years.

Faulty Translation: Some have suggested that the very long ages presented in Genesis do not match our current longevity, and therefore must be wrong. They suggest that the word translated years might be quarter years or even months. However, their arguments are not compelling and lack evidence.

Multiple Texts: Perhaps the most significant issue is that there are three different texts of Genesis chapter five. The Masoretic text was maintained by Jews from the kingdom of Judah. The Samaritan text was maintained by Israelites from the kingdom of Israel. The Septuagint was a Greek translation used by Greek-speaking people before the time of Jesus. While these three text are substantially the same, there are issues where they differ. One major difference is in Genesis chapter five.

Manuscripts were copied by hand, and inevitable errors were made. Most errors were typographical errors in words, and the correct meaning was not obstructed by the error. For example, there is a typo in this word, 'Abruham'. This typo would not interrupt the correct interpretation. However, a typographical error in a number is not correctable. For example, there is a typo in this number, '123'. What is the correct number? Is it '9123', '1236', '323', '124' . . . If a number was accidentally changed, it could not be repaired.

The following chart shows the ages from the three textual sources of Genesis. Generally the Masoretic is accepted as the most reliable. However, there are reasons to consider the others as well.

Summary: A reasonable estimate of the time from creation to the flood can be calculated. A minimum time would use the Samaritan text, a ten year "converting ages to years" deduction, and a 1.44% calendar reduction. This gives 1278 years. A maximum time would use the Septuagint text and a ten year "converting ages to years" increase. This gives 2252 years. A best guess estimate would use the Masoretic text, a five year "converting ages to years" increase, and a five year calendar decrease. This gives 1656 years. This best guess estimate is about halfway between the minimum and maximum time periods.