Chronology of the Biblical Patriarchs

1. Septuagint - a Greek translation of the Old Testament made in the third century BC. It is so named because it was made by 70 men, or by some accounts 72 with 6 from each tribe. According to legend, these scholars worked independently and produced translations that miraculously agreed verbatim. It was universally regarded by Christians and Jews alike as the Old Testament until several centuries after Christ. The writers of the New Testament reled on it and often quoted it verbatim, and chronologists based their ancient dates upon it. Then the Jews, disliking its association with Christianity, retranslated it to be less favorable to Christianity and gradually abandoned it. Western Christians began using the Latin Vulgate, based on Hebrew rather than Greek texts, as variations began to creep into the copies of the Septuagint, but Eastern Christians, who spoke Greek for centuries more, continued using the Septuagint.
2. Samaritan - an obscure and relatively uninfluential Hebrew text of the Pentateuch (first 5 Old Testament books) preserved quite independently by the Jews of Samaria who arrived just after the northern kingdom was captured and carried away. These Samaritans rejected the authority of the southern kingdom of Judah and all the scriptures after the Pentateuch, and thus we have their separate version.
3. Masoretic - a Hebrew text meticulously compiled by Jewish scholars between the sixth and tenth centuries, with numerous devices to ensure that no transcriptive error could go undetected. Most Western Bibles, including the King James, have been translated from the Masoretic text or from St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate, which in turn drew mainly from it. The Jews consider this text to be the true, original Old Testament, and most modern scholars are strongly biased in its favor, despite the millennium of precedence of the Septuagint. It is said that these Hebrew scriptures were smuggled out of Jerusalem during the Roman seige of AD 70 by a priest hiding in a coffin, and when he escaped they were later copied and compiled for the first time into the modern Old Testament, with the apocrypha rejected as non-canonical and removed.

F = age on becoming father of next patriarch
L = length of life
B = anno mundi birth
D = anno mundi death (or translation, in the case of Enoch)
 

	Septuagint				Samaritan				Masoretic
patriarch	F	L	B	D	F	L	B	D	F	L	B	D
Adam	230	930	0	930	130	930	0	930	130	930	0	930
Seth	205	912	230	1142	105	912	130	1042	105	912	130	1042
Enosh	190	905	435	1340	90	905	235	1140	90	905	235	1140
Cainan	170	910	625	1535	70	910	325	1235	70	910	325	1235
Mahalalel	165	895	795	1690	65	895	395	1290	65	895	395	1290
Jared	162	962	960	1922	62	847	460	1307	162	962	460	1422
Enoch	165	365	1122	1487	65	365	522	887	65	365	622	987
Methuselah	187	969	1287	2256	67	720	587	1307	187	969	687	1656
Lamech	188	753	1474	2227	53	653	654	1307	182	777	874	1651
Noah	502	950	1662	2612	502	950	707	1657	502	950	1056	2006
Flood	2262				1307				1656
Shem	100	600	2164	2764	100	600	1209	1809	100	600	1558	2158
Arphachshad	135	615	2264	2879	135	438	1309	1747	35	438	1658	2096
Cainan	130	460	2399	2859
Shelah	130	460	2529	2989	130	433	1444	1877	30	433	1693	2126
Eber	134	504	2659	3163	134	404	1574	1978	34	464	1723	2187
Peleg	130	339	2793	3132	130	239	1708	1947	30	239	1757	1996
Reu	132	339	2923	3262	132	239	1838	2077	32	239	1787	2026
Serug	130	330	3055	3385	130	230	1970	2200	30	230	1819	2049
Nahor	79	208	3185	3393	79	148	2100	2248	29	148	1849	1997
Terah	70	205	3264	3469	70	145	2179	2393	70	205	1878	2083
Abraham	100	175	3334	3509	100	175	2249	2424	100	175	1948	2123
Isaac	60	180	3434	3614	60	180	2349	2529	60	180	2048	2228
Jacob		147	3494	3641		147	2409	2556		147	2108	2255

Methuselah: Other LXX texts give F = 167, but if his were correct, he would have died 14 years after the Flood.
Noah: Regarding the extra 2 years, compare Genesis 5:32, 7:6, and 11:10.
Arphachshad: Other LXX texts give L = 535 or 565.
Cainan: He is omitted from the other two texts, but is attested in Luke 3:36.
Eber: Other LXX texts give L = 404.
Nahor: Other LXX texts give F = 179, L = 304.
Terah: F for him is variously given as 70 or 130 (with corresponding change in L). 130 has historically been favored, but a majority of modern scholars favor 70.

There are of course still other variations within each text. It is assumed that there is no cumulative error from rounding ages to a whole year (or perhaps in some cases to the nearest 5 or 10 years).

Where to find this data in Genesis

• Adam to Noah, Gen. 5:1-32
• Noah to Shem, Gen. 5:32, 7:6, 8:13, 9:28-29, 11:10
• Shem to Terah, Gen. 11:10-26
• Terah to Abraham, Gen 11:26, 11:32 (cf. Gen. 12:4, Acts 7:4)
• Abraham, Gen. 16:16, 17:17, 21:5, 25:7
• Isaac, Gen. 21:5, 25:26, 35:28
• Jacob, Gen. 25:26, 47:28

The age of the world

• 3760 BC, Jewish Era (Tevit) (based on Masoretic)
• 4004 BC, Ussher (based on Masoretic)
• 5198 BC, Eusebius (based on Septuagint)
• 5411 BC, Hales (based on Septuagint)
• 5501 BC, Africanus and Hippolytus of Thebes (based on Septuagint)
• 5508 BC, Byzantine Era (based on Septuagint)

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