Seth
Who was Seth? The son of Adam and Eve born after Abel's death, who lived 912 years according to the Bible. His line to Noah and the traditions about his tomb.
- Age at death
- At 912 (The Bible: Genesis 5:6-8)
- Burial place
- Not in the Bible; tradition: Lebanon, Mosul (Tradition)
- Birthplace
- When Adam was 130; no place given (The Bible: Genesis 5:3, Genesis 4:25)
Seth is the third named son of Adam and Eve, born after Cain killed Abel. When Eve names him, she says God has given her another child in Abel's place. The genealogy in Genesis 5 runs from Adam to Noah through Seth's line, which includes Enosh, Enoch, Methuselah and Noah. The Bible notes that after his son Enosh was born, people began to call on the name of the Lord. Luke also traces Jesus' genealogy back to Adam through Seth. Islamic tradition honours Seth as a prophet and points to several places as his tomb; the Bible says nothing about it.
Read the chapters
- Genesis 4
The story of humanity's first conflict between brothers, tracing how envy hardens into anger and anger into irreversible violence, and the exile that follows.
- Genesis 5
- 1 Chronicles 1
- Luke 3
Related topics
Related places
- Jerusalem
- Bethlehem
- Nazareth
- Galilee
- Egypt
- Garden of Eden
- Gethsemane
- Golgotha
- Mount of Olives
- Haran
- Mountains of Ararat
- Ur
- Canaan
- Hebron
- Jericho
- Damascus
- Sidon
- Moab
- Shechem
- Bethany
- Capernaum
- Dead Sea (Salt Sea)
- Sodom and Gomorrah
Related verse collections
- Bible Verses About Forgiveness
- Bible Verses About Creation
- Bible Verses About Family
- Bible Verses About Marriage
- Bible Verses About Generosity
- Bible Verses About Jesus
- Bible Verses About Trials and Testing
- Bible Verses About God's Promises
- Bible Verses About Work and Labor
- Bible Verses About Mercy
- Bible Verses About Honesty
Reading plans
- The Bible for Beginners — 10 Days
- Holy Week — The Final Days of Jesus
- Two Weeks in the Parables of Jesus
- Advent — 24 Days to Christmas
- The Bible in a Year — 365 Days from Cover to Cover
Related guides
- What Is a Prophet?
What does "prophet" mean, what do prophets do in the Bible and which books contain them? A short, neutral guide to the meaning of prophecy, the major and minor prophets and where to start reading.
Books
People in the Bible
How old was Seth when he died?
Seth died at the age of 912 (Genesis 5:8). He became the father of Enosh at 105 and lived another 807 years, having other sons and daughters as well (Genesis 5:6-7). Born to Adam after Abel's death, Seth is the second link in the line that Genesis 5 traces from Adam to Noah.
Where is Seth buried?
The Bible says nothing about Seth's grave; the sites shown as his tomb come from later tradition. Islamic and local traditions attribute more than one place to him. The best known are the shrine in the village of al-Nabi Shayth near Baalbek in Lebanon and the Nabi Shith shrine in Mosul, Iraq, which was destroyed in 2014. None of these rests on anything in the biblical text.
When and where was Seth born?
Seth was born when his father Adam was 130 (Genesis 5:3); the Bible does not name the place. Eve gave him his name after Cain killed Abel, saying God had given her another child in Abel's place (Genesis 4:25). In the narrative, his birth comes after the family had been sent out of the Garden of Eden.
Who descended from Seth?
According to Genesis 5, Seth's line runs through Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech down to Noah, and all the peoples who spread over the earth after the Flood came from Noah's sons (Genesis 9:19). Luke traces Jesus' genealogy along this line back to Seth and Adam (Luke 3:36-38).
Was Seth a prophet?
The Bible does not present Seth as a prophet; it remembers him as an ancestor in Adam's genealogy (Genesis 5:3-8). Islamic tradition, however, counts him among the prophets, which is why he is often searched for in Türkiye as the Prophet Seth.