Postdiluvian · Patriarch

Terah

also Thara

Terah

Patriarch

Era

Postdiluvian

Tribe

Before the tribes

Roles

Patriarch

Lifespan

205 years · 70 at named sonHebrew · Masoretic

Text traditions are manuscript families. Their numbers can differ, so each age or reign keeps its own tradition tag.

Father

Nahor

Mother

not named in scripture

Biography

Terah was born in the line from Shem through Nahor, and he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran after he had lived 70 years . Haran fathered Lot and died before Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans .

Terah took Abram, Sarai, and Lot from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into Canaan, and they came to Haran and lived there . Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran .

Luke places Terah, called Thara in the genealogy, between Nahor and Abraham in the line of Jesus .

In Scripture

Place in the Line

The cited biological line from Terah runs through Abraham toward Jesus; later it has multiple parsed branches: Solomon, Nathan.

8 generations

7 generations

9 generations

23 generations

38 generations

8 generations

7 generations

9 generations

23 generations

38 generations

Where scholars differ

Which ancient textual tradition's ages should be used for Genesis 5 and 11?

What is in question: Genesis 5 and 11 preserve different age numbers in different textual traditions, so chronology depends on which tradition is being followed.

One reading

Use the Masoretic Text ages

majoritygraph path

Claim: The main display uses the Masoretic Text, the traditional Hebrew text behind many Old Testament editions, unless another tradition is named.

Basis: Genesis 5:3-32 and Genesis 11:10-26 are the sections where the ages appear; the local age data is tagged by textual tradition.

Who holds it: not attributed to a named source in this dataset

Verses:

Another reading

Account for Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch ages

contested

Claim: The Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Samaritan form of the Torah, preserve different age figures in these chapters.

Basis: Genesis 5:3-32 and Genesis 11:10-26 are the same age lists, but the numbers differ across these textual traditions.

Who holds it: not attributed to a named source in this dataset

Verses:

Scholarly weight: The Masoretic Text is the default for most Hebrew-based Old Testament displays and for this site. The Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch remain important ancient witnesses, so chronology should be stated with the textual tradition named.

Graph note: The graph keeps dates and ages tradition-tagged rather than flattening them into a single chronology.