Bible Encyclopedias
Generation

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jen - ẽr - ā´shun (Latin generatio , from genero , "beget"):

(1) The translation ( a ) of דּור , dōr , "circle," "generation," hence, "age," "period," "cycle": "many generations" ( Deuteronomy 32:7 ); (b ) The people of any particular period or those born about the same time: "Righteous before me in this generation" (Genesis 7:1 ); "four generations" (Job 42:16 ); (c ) The people of a particular class or sort, with some implied reference to hereditary quality; the wicked (Deuteronomy 32:5; Proverbs 30:11 ); the righteous (Psalm 14:5; Psalm 112:2 ).

(2) תּולדות , tōledhōth , "births," hence ( a ) an account of a man and his descendants: "The book of the generations of Adam" ( Genesis 5:1 ); (b ) successive families: "The families of the sons of Noah, after their generations" (Genesis 10:32 ); (c ) genealogical divisions: "The children of Reuben ... their generations, by their families" (Numbers 1:20 ); (d ) figurative , of the origin and early history of created things: "The generations of the heavens and of the earth" (Genesis 2:4 ).

(3) γενεά , geneá , "a begetting," "birth," "nativity," therefore ( a ) The successive members of a genealogy: "All the generations from Abraham unto David" ( Matthew 1:17 ); (b ) a race, or class, distinguished by common characteristics, always (in the New Testament) bad: "Faithless and perverse generation" (Matthew 17:17 ); (c ) The people of a period: "This generation shall not pass away" (Luke 21:32 ); (d ) an age (the average lifetime, 33 years): "Hid for (Greek "from the") ages and (from the) generations" (Colossians 1:26 ). The term is also by a figurative transference of thought applied to duration in eternity: "Unto all generations for ever and ever" ( Ephesians 3:21 ) (Greek "all the generations of the age of the ages").

(4) γένεσις , génesis , "source," "origin": "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ" ( Matthew 1:1; the American Revised Version, margin "The genealogy of Jesus Christ").

(5) γέννημα , génnēma , "offspring," "progeny"; figurative: "O generation of vipers" ( Luke 3:7 the King James Version).

(6) γένος , génos , "stock," "race," in this case spiritual: "But ye are a chosen generation" ( 1 Peter 2:9; the American Standard Revised Version "an elect race").