Longevity or Countdown: What Does the 120 Years in Genesis 6:3 Refer To?

Context

Genesis 3 tells of the introduction of sin into God’s “very good” creation via the serpent’s temptation and Adam’s rebellion.

Genesis 4 shows how sin compounded when Cain killed Abel and the further growth of wickedness typified by Cain’s descendant Lamech, a polygamist who boasted about murdering a young man. Genesis 5 depicts both the passage of time and the multiplication of humanity.

In Genesis 6, the situation has reached a boiling point with the constant wickedness of men and “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). As a result, God was grieved and said that he would blot out man and other land-dwelling creatures (Genesis 6:6–7). The remainder of the chapter goes on to tell us about Noah and the Lord’s instructions to him concerning the ark and the flood.

Just prior to all of this, there is that controversial passage about the sons of God and the giants (or Nephilim) in Genesis 6:1–4. While AiG does not hold an official position on the identity of the sons of God, each of the popular views affirm that whoever the sons of God were, their unions with the daughters of men were sinful. And it is in the midst of these verses that we find the subject of this article. “Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years’” (Genesis 6:3).

There are two main interpretations of this statement. The first is that God is setting a limit on human lifespans, and the second is that God is starting a clock that counts down the time to judgment. These can be labeled as the lifespan and countdown views, respectively. Deciding which of these is the better interpretation requires a deeper study of the text, but as we will see, both of these positions require the interpreter to make some assumptions, so we should remain somewhat tentative in our conclusions.

“Abide or Strive?”

The first issue at play here involves the various translations of the verse, which either indicate that God’s spirit would not “strive” (NKJV) or “contend” (NIV) with man or his spirit would not “abide” (ESV) or “remain” (NET) in him indefinitely. There is difficulty in determining how the Hebrew verb יָד֨וֹן (yadōn) should be translated. Let’s look at how this verse is translated in the NKJV and ESV.

And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive (יָד֨וֹן) with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3 NKJV)

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide (יָד֨וֹן) in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” (Genesis 6:3 ESV)

The verb yadōn is a hapax legomenon, meaning that it only appears once in the Old Testament, and of course, it is right here in Genesis 6:3.

If we understand the meaning as “to strive,” then it seems to be stating that God will not allow mankind’s increasing rebellion to continue indefinitely. And because mankind is mortal, God will end the conflict after 120 years.

If yadōn should be translated as “abide” or “remain,” then the verse seems to be teaching that God will not allow his life-giving spirit to prolong man’s life for such a long time (nearly 1,000 years). Instead, he was going to reduce man’s lifespan to a maximum of 120 years.

The fact that translation committees have come down on different sides here is an indication that this is a difficult word to translate.

The fact that translation committees have come down on different sides here is an indication that this is a difficult word to translate. The NET Bible includes a helpful translator note that explains the rationale behind the two options and why Hebrew language scholars have not been able to settle the issue.

The verb form יָדוֹן (yadon) only occurs here. Some derive it from the verbal root דִּין (din, “to judge”) and translate “strive” or “contend with” (so NIV), but in this case one expects the form to be יָדִין (yadin). The Old Greek has “remain with,” a rendering which may find support from an Arabic cognate (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:375). If one interprets the verb in this way, then it is possible to understand רוּחַ (ruakh) as a reference to the divine life-giving spirit or breath, rather than the Lord’s personal Spirit.1

Given the uncertainty of translating this key term, let’s consider a couple of the arguments used against each position and some of the responses to those arguments to see if they can help us reach a definitive conclusion.

Lifespan View Objection 1: People Continued Living Longer than 120 Years

One potential problem with the lifespan view is that men continued living far more than 120 years for the next several generations. The genealogy in Genesis 11 shows that lifespans decreased dramatically after the flood (Noah died at 950, his son Shem died at 600, and Shem’s son died at 438). It isn’t until the narrative of Joseph’s death at 110 in Genesis 50 that people died of old age at less than 120 years—even Joseph’s father Jacob lived to 147 years of age. After Moses, who lived exactly 120 years, only one person in Scripture surpassed that lifespan—Jehoiada the priest who lived to 130 years during the kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 24:15).

At first glance, this would seem to be a knockout blow to the lifespan view, but there are at least two important points to consider. Those who hold the lifespan view point out that the text never says that the judgment would fall immediately. According to this view, the Lord simply stated that man’s days “shall be” 120 years. That is, at some point, man’s maximum lifespan would be 120 years. The fact that they began plunging drastically in the next generation seems to support this. Also, lifespan advocates point out that the countdown advocates also believe in a delayed judgment (120 years), so this objection to the lifespan view could also be turned against the countdown view.

Lifespan View Objection 2: Exceptions to the Rule

As mentioned above, Jehoiada the priest lived to 130 years (2 Chronicles 24:15). More recently, it has been reported that a French woman named Jeanne Calment lived to the age of 122 years. How can 120 years be the maximum lifespan if people have surpassed that figure?

Lifespan advocates point out that there are often exceptions to certain “rules.” For example, Hebrews 9:27 states that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” However, there are several people that likely died twice: Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, Tabitha, and others mentioned in the Bible who were raised from the dead (other than Jesus). Jehoiada’s long life may have been a reward for his part in rescuing baby Joash from Athaliah’s reign of terror and eventually bringing it to an end while installing Joash as king. And while officials stand by Jeanne Calment’s longevity, a detailed 2018 study by Nikolay Zak made a strong case that “Jeanne” was actually her daughter Yvonne.2 But even if Calment legitimately lived to 122, she would be another exception.

Countdown View Objection 1: God’s Audience

One of the objections to the countdown view is that this passage never states that God spoke these words to Noah or any other human being. The notion that he is giving man a 120-year period to repent largely depends on God communicating such a warning to Noah so that he could warn others. Throughout Genesis 1–11 (and the rest of Scripture), we are told when God is speaking to creatures on earth. The text specifies when he spoke to Adam (Genesis 2:16, 3:17–19), Eve (Genesis 3:16), the serpent (Genesis 3:14–15), Cain (Genesis 4:6–15), and Noah (Genesis 6:13–7:4). But when the text does not specify who God is addressing, it is almost certainly a conversation in the heavenly realm, whether spoken to the heavenly host or perhaps “intertrinitarian” dialogue (Genesis 1:3, 5, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 2:18, 3:22, 6:7). Since Genesis 6:3 does not include the name of the person being addressed, it does not seem as though he said these words to anyone on earth.

Countdown advocates can reply to this objection in a similar fashion to how lifespan advocates reply to the first objection above: There can be exceptions to the “rules.” While there is clearly a convention in Genesis 1–11 of mentioning who is being addressed, there is no rule that this must be followed at all times. For example, in Genesis 4:10, the Lord spoke to Cain, but the text just states, “And the Lord said . . .” Cain’s name is not mentioned in this verse. Although to be fair, the previous verse explained that the Lord was addressing Cain. Still, the absence of Cain’s name in verse 10 may allow for other exceptions to the “rules.”

Countdown View Objection 2: Where Is the Contextual Support for a Countdown?

A primary interpretive principle is that context determines the meaning of any spoken or written words. A difficulty with the countdown view is that it lacks contextual clues to indicate that this is what Moses had in mind when he wrote these words. We know that Noah was called a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), but as mentioned in the previous objection, we are not told that these words were spoken to Noah or any other man. Also, we are never told that Noah knew about this 120-year period or that he warned people about the coming flood for this amount of time. If this is supposed to be similar to Jonah’s message (“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:4), then why doesn’t the text tell us how the people responded, as it does in Jonah 3:6–10.

Furthermore, the immediate context seems to provide a strong argument for the lifespan view. This verse is in the middle of that controversial passage about the sons of God and the Nephilim, so it would make sense that the judgment is in response to the sinful behavior described in Genesis 6:1–4. Also, keep in mind that the chapter breaks are not found in the original text, and the previous chapter was the genealogy from Adam to Noah where we are repeatedly told that an individual lived more than 900 years before dying. Imagine being an Israelite wandering in the wilderness and hearing Genesis 5–6 for the first time or think about what might be going through the mind of a first-time Bible reader as they reach the end of chapter 5. How come we don’t live as long as they did? We still receive this question regularly, so we know people wonder about it. According to the lifespan view, the answer is found within the next few verses. Humans engaged in terrible wickedness described in Genesis 6:1–2, so God announced that he would limit the amount of time they would have to rebel by reducing their lifespan to 120 years.

In response, countdown advocates point to the broader context of the flood. True, the flood is not specifically mentioned until Genesis 6:17, but the fact that God was going to bring judgment on a wicked world is announced in Genesis 6:7 and 13. Countdown advocates believe Genesis 6:3 should be understood a similar way—that it should be understood as referring to the flood because it’s in the chapter about the flood.

Does Genesis 6:3 Contradict Psalm 90:10?

Some skeptics have alleged that Genesis 6:3 contradicts Psalm 90:10.

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10 ESV)

The supposed contradiction in these two verses has to do with the length of a person’s total earthly lifespan. It is interesting that both Psalm 90 and Genesis 6 were written by Moses, so we should give the author the benefit of the doubt that he is not contradicting himself, but let’s see if the skeptical charge has any merit. Of course, if the countdown view is correct, there is no difficulty whatsoever since Genesis 6:3 would not be limiting man’s lifespan to 120 years. On the other hand, the lifespan view does need to provide a response to this contention.

In the context of Psalm 90:10, Moses pleaded for God’s mercy on human beings who live in a sin-cursed world. He reflected on the eternal attributes of God and contrasted them with the finite existence of man. Man, because of sin and disobedience, brought on himself wrath and judgment from a holy God (Psalm 90:7–8).

Moses informed us that the length of a man’s life averages out to between 70 and 80 years on earth. Due to this time span, Moses said, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We are to live the remainder of our days in wisdom and holiness with the chief aim of pleasing God with our lives (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Colossians 1:9–11; 1 Peter 4:7–8).

At first blush, Psalm 90:10 seems easily falsifiable because there are millions of people aged 90 or over around the world, and even in the US, there were 1.9 million of them in 2010. However, Moses was not giving an absolute time span here. In fact, he lived to be 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7), and his successor, Joshua, lived to be 110 (Joshua 24:29). Moses was giving an average lifespan, and it is one that is still true today. In the US, the average lifespan for males is 75.8 years and for females is 81.1 years. In Japan, those averages are higher being 81.99 (males) and 88.03 (females). These numbers accord well with Moses’ statement in Psalm 90:10, especially considering that our current society has much better medical care and typically does less strenuous manual labor, leading to (slightly) longer lifespans. Thus, Psalm 90:10 is not in error here because Moses was not describing man’s maximum lifespan. For the same reason, if Genesis 6:3 should be understood as being about man’s lifespan, then it would not contradict Psalm 90:10.

Conclusion

It should be clear that resolving the issue is not as easy as many believe and one’s conclusion often relies upon other assumptions and interpretations.

There are other arguments and responses that could be mentioned for and against the countdown and lifespan views. It should be clear that resolving the issue is not as easy as many believe and one’s conclusion often relies upon other assumptions and interpretations. A person’s interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4 will likely influence how verse 3 is understood. Also, should the Hebrew verb יָד֨וֹן (yadōn) be translated as “strive” or “abide”? We can be grateful that it is even clearer that our salvation does not depend upon a proper interpretation of the 120 years in Genesis 6:3.

Regardless of how you interpret this verse, we can agree that it reveals God’s mercy. If the countdown view is correct, then this passage deals with God’s long-suffering and the length of time he is willing to allow people to repent. And if the lifespan view is right, then it shows God’s mercy in allowing men to still live up to 120 years, even though we don’t deserve our next breath.

The Psalm 90 passage deals with finite humans who are in need of God’s mercy. Upon careful examination, we can conclude that both of these passages give us important insight into the existence of human beings and the judgment that each human must face when their time on earth has concluded. Whether a human being lives to be 70, 80, or 120, their time on earth is very brief when seen from God’s perspective (Psalm 90:4–6; James 4:14).

The brevity of our life should cause us to examine our spiritual condition (2 Corinthians 13:5–6) to see whether we are prepared to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus or eternal separation from him in hell. As Isaiah said, our lives are short as grass, but the Word of God stands forever (Isaiah 40:6–7). And as the writer of Hebrews stated, we are all appointed to die and then face judgment if not in Christ (Hebrews 9:27–28). Are we eagerly awaiting Christ’s return (Titus 2:12–14), or are we dreading it or avoiding thinking about it altogether (Romans 2:3–9; John 4:17–18)? This is what Psalm 90:10 (as well as the flood narrative in Genesis 6–8) teaches us—to redeem the time because we live in an evil time (Ephesians 5:15–17 NKJV), just like the pre-flood peoples and the grumbling Israelites whom Moses led in the wilderness.