the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
Parallel translations
- WEB the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
- KJV Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech,
- NKJV the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
- NASB the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
- NLT Shelah was the son of Cainan. Cainan was the son of Arphaxad. Arphaxad was the son of Shem. Shem was the son of Noah. Noah was the son of Lamech.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The line passes through Shem and Noah, survivors of the flood. Jesus descends from those God preserved through judgment.
Overview
Luke names Shem and Noah, through whom humanity continued after the flood. This places Jesus in the line of God's saving preservation of a remnant. The God who rescued Noah ultimately brings the Savior of the world through that same line.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Gen 10:21–22And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.
- Gen 5:28–32When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son.
- Gen 9:1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Gen 9:26–27He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
- 2 Pet 2:5if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;
- Gen 6:22So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.
- Luke 17:27People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
- 1 Pet 3:20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
- Gen 6:8–10Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
- Gen 8:1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
- Gen 11:10–26This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
- Gen 7:13On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—
- Gen 7:23And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.
- Heb 11:7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
- 1 Chr 1:17The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.
- Ezek 14:14then even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD.
- Gen 9:18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 3:36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.