Selah (), Salah or Sala ( – ''Salá'') or Shelah is an ancestor of the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

and

Ishmaelites The Ishmaelites (; ) were a collection of various Arab tribes, tribal confederations and small kingdoms described in Abrahamic tradition as being descended from and named after Ishmael, a prophet according to the Quran, the first son of Abraha ...

according to the

Table of Nations The Generations of Noah, also called the Table of Nations or ''Origines Gentium'', is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, Genesis ), and their dispersion into many lands after Genesis flood narrative ...

in . He is thus one of the table's "seventy names". He is also mentioned in , , and

Luke 3 Luke 3 is the third Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible, traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apostle on his missionary journ ...

:35–36. In the ancestral line from

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

, he is the son of

Arpachshad Arpachshad ( – ʾArpaḵšaḏ; – ''ʾArpaḵšaḏ'', in pausa – ''ʾArpaḵšāḏ''; – ''Arphaxád''), alternatively spelled Arphaxad or Arphacsad, is one of the postdiluvian men in the ShemTerah genealogy. The name is ...

(in the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

and

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: , ), is the Religious text, sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existe ...

) or

Cainan Cainan (from ''Qēnān'') is mentioned in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Book of Genesis, the Book of Jubilees and the genealogy of Jesus given in Luke 3:36 in the New Testament. He is described as a son of Arpachshad and father of ...

(in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

) and the father of

Eber Eber (; ; ) is an ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the Israelites according to the Generations of Noah in the Book of Genesis () and the Books of Chronicles (). Lineage Eber (Hebrew: Ever) was a great-grandson of Noah's son Shem and the father ...

. The name ''Eber'' for his son is the original

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

of the Hebrew people, from the root ''‘abar'' (, ), "to cross over". The

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

and

Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish apocryphal text of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as by Haymanot Judaism, a denomination observed by members of Ethiopian Jewish ...

both agree with the Septuagint in making Selah the son of Cainan, adding the information that his mother was ''Milcah'' (the daughter of

Madai Madai (, ; , ) is a son of Japheth and one of the 16 grandsons of Noah in the ''Book of Genesis'' of the Hebrew Bible. Associated nations Medes and related Iranian nations Biblical scholars have generally identified Madai with the Iranian ...

), while his wife is named as ''Mu'ak'', daughter of ''Kesed'' (another son of Arphachsad). The death age of Selah is given as 433 (Masoretic), 460 (Septuagint), and 460 (Samaritan).

Henry M. Morris Henry Madison Morris (October 6, 1918 – February 25, 2006) was an American young Earth creationist, Christian apologist and engineer. He was one of the founders of the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research. He i ...

states that Arpachshad, Selah, and Eber are listed as the most important sons since they were in the line of the promised

Seed of the Woman Seed of the woman or offspring of the woman () is a phrase from the Book of Genesis: as a result of the serpent's temptation of Eve, which resulted in the fall of man, God announces (in Genesis 3:15) that he will put enmity between the seed of t ...

References

{{Authority control Book of Genesis people Books of Chronicles people Gospel of Luke Noach (parashah) Book of Jubilees

See also

References