How Long Is a Generation in The Bible

How Long Is a Generation in The Bible: When the bible mentions a generation how many years are those? It is interesting to know this fact which is why we have researched fully and given the answer to this question as shown below.  First, let us look at the general meaning of the word generation:

What is a generation?

A generation speaks of all people born and living at a similar time.  In other words, a generation is an average period, during which born children grow up, become adults then begin to have their children. Normally in the current age, a generation ranges from 20 to 30 years.

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What is generation in the Bible?

According to the Bible, a generation is primarily the age of a man when his child is born.

Genesis 21:5

5 “Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”

Abraham got his Isaac at the age of 100 years so the second generation in Abraham’s lineage came to be when Isaac was born.

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Genesis 25:26

26 “After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[e] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.”

Isaac got Esau and Jacob when he was 60 years old. So the third generation of Abraham came into existence after 160

 

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How Long Is a Generation in The Bible?

How many years are in a generation in the bible or How Long Is a Biblical Generation? In the Bible, there is no number “given” but the Jewish traditional view of a generation is 40 years and the Bible seems to replicate this. For instance, God promised that the whole generation of fighting men (20 years and above) would all die in the desert for 40 years if they stayed in the desert. {Numbers 14}. Additionally, where the duration of a king is unidentified, like David’s and Solomon’s, authors attached a forty-year reign to them.

The following verses are essential for further understanding of how many years are in a generation in the bible.

Bible verses on 40 as years for a generation.

Numbers 32:13

“The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.”

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Psalms 95:10

10 “For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.”

Numbers 14: 31-33

31 “As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.”

After the 12 spies had come from spying on the promised land, 10 spies brought a bad report. The people feared and doubted God. They wept and grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Lord was so angry that He wanted to wipe them out. However, Moses intervened and God spared them immediate death. Instead, God promised that the whole generation of fighting men (20 years and above) would all die in the desert for the 40 years they stayed in the desert.

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Frequently Asked Questions Generation in The Bible

What does the Bible say about 70 years?

70 years is the approximate life expectancy of human beings. Moses in Psalms 90:10 brings out the approximate age of man

Psalms 90:10

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

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How many generations are from Abraham to Jesus?

There are 42 generations from Abraham to the birth of Jesus as explained in Matthew 1.

Mathew 1: 17

“Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.”

How Many Generations from Adam to Abraham?

The total number of generations from Adam to Abraham is 20 generations. First, the generations before floods, i.e. from Adam to Noah were 10 generations. After the floods from Noah to Abraham, there were also 10 generations

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Conclusion: How Long Is a Generation in The Bible

On one hand, the number of days for a man may come to seventy or eighty years. On the other hand, the number of years from one generation to the next is not constant. This is because it took a different number of years from the time one is born to the time one had their firstborn son.  However, there are some existing suggestions that a generation in the Bible lasts for 40 years.