Kenan (also spelled Qenan, Kaynan or Cainan) (; ar, كِنَاْنْ, Keynān; grc-x-biblical, Καϊνάμ, Kaïnám) is an
Antediluvian
The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology. The term was coined by Thomas Browne. The narrative take ...
patriarch first mentioned in the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
.
In scriptures
According to Genesis 5:9–14, Kenan was a son of
Enosh and a grandson of
Seth
Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...
. Born when Enosh was 90 years old,
Kenan fathered
Mahalalel
Mahalalel (, ) is an Antediluvian patriarch named in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Sethite genealogy as the grandfather of Enoch and subsequently the ancestor of Noah.
Etymology
The meaning of the name could be translated as "the ...
when he was 70 years old.
Genesis 5:12
/ref> Other sons and daughters were born to Kenan before he died at 910 years of age (when Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
was aged 179 as per the Masoretic chronology).
According to the Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...
, Kenan's mother was Noam, wife and sister of Enosh; and Kenan's wife, Mualeleth, was his sister.
He is also mentioned in the Genealogy of Jesus
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but ...
in Luke 3:36–37.
Family tree
The following family tree
A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms.
Representations of ...
has been constructed from a variety of biblical and extra-biblical sources:
In Islam
Kenan is mentioned in Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
in the various collections of tales of the Islamic prophets, which honor him in an identical manner.
Gallery
File:Biblical antediluvian patriarch Cainan, Kenan.jpg, alt=, Engraving of Kenan from Bartolomeo Gai's Epitome historico-chronologica (1751)
References
{{Authority control
Book of Genesis people
Bereshit (parashah)
Book of Jubilees