Home › Glossary › Letter M

Methuselah

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Biblical patriarch famed for his extraordinary lifespan of 969 years, dying in the year of the Great Flood.

Detailed Definition
Methuselah, son of Enoch and father of Lamech, lived 969 years—the longest lifespan recorded (Genesis 5:25–27). In poetry, Methuselah embodies the patience of divine judgment, the symbolic countdown to cataclysm, and the intersection of human longevity with cosmic turning points.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Genesis 5:27, Methuselah’s 969 years inspire meditative poetry on mortality and divine patience; John Milton lists Methuselah in “Paradise Lost” as longest-lived patriarch before the Flood; 18th-century verse uses Methuselah to contrast human brevity with eternal promises; Contemporary minimalist poems include Methuselah in “catalogues of time” to evoke humility; In apocalyptic poetry, his death precedes the Flood as divine signal; Some liturgical works cite Methuselah to reflect on legacy and longevity.
Additional Notes
Methuselah, famously the longest-lived biblical figure (969 years, per Genesis 5:27), is often cited as a symbol of extreme longevity; his name may mean “when he dies, it shall be sent,” linking his death to the timing of the Flood; poets use Methuselah to evoke themes of time, mortality, divine patience, or the threshold between eras—his life bridges the antediluvian world and the cataclysm of judgment, making him a potent figure for meditations on legacy and cosmic cycles.
Other Meanings of “Methuselah”
Also Known As
Methuselah son of Enoch Methuselah the Long-Lived
Skip to main content