How many years does the Bible say are in a generation?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, The Bible does not give a direct answer to this common question. Yet it does leave us with some observations - although these have been broadly interpreted. When we study the Scriptures, it becomes clear that the length of a generation differs from one historic period to the next. We find that the generation of the earlier history of man were longer, because people lived longer and tended to marry later in life. In one of the genealogies given in the New Testament, it says this: "So all the generation from Abraham to David are fourteen generation, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generation, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generation " (Matt. 1:17, NKJV). Each of these three groupings were summed up as 14 generations.

However, each of these 3 sets of generations did not last the same number of years. In fact, the average generation in the period from Abraham to David was approximately 64 years, but the average generation from David to the Babylonian captivity and from that captivity to Christ was about 38 years. Quite a difference when counting over hundreds or thousands of years. Today, in our secular world, a generation may be as short as 18 years like the 'baby boomers' (1946-1964) and as long as the frequent 100 years - the most common time is 40 years. Final thought, the term " generation " may have other meanings too. The 'generation' that sees Christ's return, for example, refers to all the people living at that time.