Do you believe in a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people?"

Does that sound "Republican" -- or simply "constitutional?"

DO "Republicans" believe that individual and separate "State's rights" and/or "singular-person rights" (also in aggregate involving variable-type-and-size-assemblage groups)....should take precedent over the rights of The Federal Government (the largest and most inclusively-diverse group possible)?

Do you feel that every particular person should do their own (innovative and creative) thing (singularly or in aggregate involving variable-type-and-size-assemblage groups) rather than faceless-and-untouchable bureaucrats of The Federal Government regulate every person plus type-and-size of group?

It is obvious that The Leader of the Pack -- whether one prefers the Republican or instead the Democrat approach to lawful, ever-changing, and established Government -- is the Creator Himself, because of whose embedded force of gravitational attraction all dropped objects from both Republicans and Democrats fall to the ground impartially.

The Judeo-Christian Sacred-66-books canonical HOLY BIBLE identifies that supernatural Creator as a Three-in-One Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit....with the Builder not having been the Father nor the Spirit component, but instead the Son, (One and co-equal with The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace) named: Jesus Christ (i.e. the Son of God who always existed before all time and will always exist in the future).

The first recorded form of Government in Holy Scripture was the primal nuclear family of king-equivalent father (Adam), queen-equivalent mother (Eve), and pawns-equivalent posterity/progenie offspring (Cain, Seth, etc).

By the time Noah and his family arrived on the scene (as sole survivors of the cataclysmic Worldwide Flood) that nuclear family of king-father, queen-mother, and pawn-children was at that time the only existing form of Government on Earth.

After the Tower of Babel incident, the Sumerians, Mesopotamians, Babylonians, Aztecs, Incas, and so on spread out to relocate all over the planet, and a more complex type of Government formed from groups of families cooperatively living in close proximity to each other, the leader of which larger units became Tribal Chiefs.

The chief of one of those governmental tribes is identified in Holy Writ as Abraham, who because the father of the lineage of both Jews (through his wife Sarah) and of Arabs (through his alternate and inferior-status wife/concubine Hagar).

The succession of tribal chiefs continued on Earth among what became conglomerate-Government sundry nations (of whom Pharaoh was the one commandeering Egypt), while the Hebrew Israelites had as their Tribal Chief a theocratic-like monarch named Moses, who in turn was followed by monarch Joshua and then a series of theocratic-like "judges."

Sometime thereafter, the growing tribe of Hebrew Israelites made the following petition known about a "king:"

Numbers 23:21 (God) has not beheld misfortune in Jacob; nor has He seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.
Deuteronomy 17:14 When you come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and reside in it, and then say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me'
15 you may indeed set as king over you him whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not put a foreigner [not born in Kenya] over you, who is not your brother.
16 Only he must not multiply horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never return that way again.'
17 And he shall not multiply wives for himself [whether he be David with several wives and concubines, nor Solomon with many more than that], lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply for himself silver and gold [as Solomon did].
18 And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, from that which is in the charge of the Levitical priests;
19 and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them;
20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren [of either house of Congress, nor of any of the Judiciary], and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left; so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel [and America].

First Samuel 8:4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah,
5 and said to him, "Hey, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations."
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD.
10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking a king from him.
19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No! but we will have a king over us
22 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Respond to their voice, and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city."

First Samuel 10:19 But you have this day rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, 'No! but set a king over us.' Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands."

First Samuel 12:1 And Samuel said to all Israel, "Hey, I have responded to your voice in all that you have said to me, and have made a king over you.
12 And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us,' when the LORD your God was your king.
13 And now see and consider the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; hey, the LORD has set a king over you.
17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the LORD, that he may send thunder and rain; and you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king."
19 And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king."

First Samuel 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected (Saul) from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king [David] among his sons."

First Kings 14:14 Moreover the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today.

Second Kings 8:20 In his days Edom [predecessors of "the palestinians?"] revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king of their own.
Second Chronicles 21:8 In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king of their own.

About the time of the human lifespan of Christ (born a baby boy, then becoming a toddler, then teen, then adult), the type of king who over the tribe of Israel ruled was called "Caesar" and ever since than time until 1948 globally-dispersed Israel has been under those types of kings reigning as dictators, parliamentarians, prime ministers, presidents, military generals, and the like. Jews are still somewhat scattered worldwide, with some having been under the czar of Russia, the antisemitic-nazi Adolf Hitler, the [present] somewhat-incompetent-to-properly-lead charismatic-orator American commander-in-chief, Prime Minister of Britain, and others. Those Jews (and jews) who are currently residing in their Divinely-and-territorially-allocated mideast Holy Land are thankfully under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu.

What does the Almighty reveal to us and to all about His attitude toward all types of Government?

The answer is paradoxical, and two-fold:

On one hand:

Exodus 3:9 And now, hey, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

Second Kings 13:4 Then Jehoahaz begged the LORD, and the LORD responded to him; for he saw the oppression against Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violently taken away, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

Ezekiel 45:9 Thus says the Lord GOD: "Enough, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness; cease your evictions of my people," says the Lord GOD.

Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.

On the other hand:

Proverbs 24:21 My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not disobey either of them

Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2 Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
7 Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

Titus 3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work

Speaking of taxes:

Matthew 17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said, "Does not your teacher pay the tax?"
25 He said, "Yes." And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from others?"
26 And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.
27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself."

Luke 3:14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

The other day, I was listening to a radio talkshow host who advocated that every person who could should form some type of business, such as an LLC, S-Corporation, Limited Partnership, Sole Proprietorship....and it dawned on me that all the types of businesses he mentioned had something in common: they were all defined by, registered with, plus under the financial regulation and social-issues mandates of the IRS.

Whoever takes a job with an employer who has obligated himself or herself to acquisition, dispersal, and exchange involving Federal-Reserve-note monetary sales of economic transactions registered with and monitored by the IRS.....with others similarly involved with Federal-Reserve-note monetary sales and economic transactions also registered with and monitored by the IRS.....has likewise put himself or herself under the same restrictive IRS authority not merely about salaries and income-source disclosures, but also (and potentially quite dangerous) control of whoever hires, fires, and why (concerning such entanglement entrapments as "civil" and "human" and "equal" "rights" discrimination).

Such suppressive stifling and crippling tyranny against liberty and freedom for the potentially-employable is absent regarding certain type of work, shenanigans, and endeavors which are NOT directly NOR permanently connected with IRS Government parameters of regulated operation.

Examples would be: black-market-type monetary or bartered-services exchange of narcotics or firearms dealers, non-registered streetwalking or other secretly-available types of harlots and prostitutes along with cautiously-guarded means of accessing them, concubines engaging and engaged in common-law marriage with State Marriage-License Registration, small or larger birthday-gifts dispersion and acquisition, plus non-licensed/non-registered neighborhood-kiosk garage sales.

The governmental IRS simply cannot control ALL exchanges of Federal Reserve notes (whether public or private), but those exchanges which ARE registered with the IRS the IRS obviously can and does monitor, control, and regulate with governmental law-enforcement and judicial backup.

Unless presiding Government has "a compelling interest" to investigate and interfere with a non-declared and non-registered giving and receiving of Federal Reserve notes (all of which, incidently, have unique and computer-recordable serial numbers....dissimilar to metal coins), the Federal military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard), the State military (National Guard and State-Patrol Troopers), the County or Township military (Sheriff and his Deputies), the City military (Local Police) neither invade the premises of nor disrupt the operations of most relatively-benign non-declared and non-registered covert and/or temporary and/or limited-scope non-registered monetary exchanges outside the scope of Treasury-Department Secret-Service interests (with the exception of increasingly-difficult-to-fake counterfeit paper-money fiat bills not directly backed by gold reserves).

Such, for example, is the case of the rather-dubiously-misnamed american-indian "nations" operating under the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (which each Tibal Reservation Chief has his own security police of sorts) -- but all of whom are yet and ultimately under the potentially-invasive investigative control of all levels of United States law enforcement (e.g. federal marshalls, state police, county or township sheriff, and local city police)....depending upon variable circumstances.

I recall what the cartoon-character Shrek said pertaining to a smaller and weaker threatening nation subversively attempting to overthrow a larger nation while residing within the territorial boundaries of that larger and more powerful nation:

"You....and whose army?"

All structures of Government authority have their rules regulating whoever wants to either voluntarily or involuntary accomodate and comply. The highest Government authority is: God (identified with the name: "Jesus Christ"), and those who accomodate best to the natural processes and phenomena He has created and maintains are those who live the longest and are the most satisfied while doing so.

In conclusion:

If a person wants to comfortably and successfully live within the Government of the LORD, the following mindset and dictates apply:

Job 37:18 Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a molten mirror?

Ecclesiastes 10:10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, he must put forth more strength; but wisdom helps one to succeed.

Ecclesiastes 11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

Hebrews 12:9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of Spirits and live?

First Peter 3:22 (Jesus Christ) has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

Second Peter 1:17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,"
Second Peter 1:18 we heard this Voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain [of Transfiguration].

Revelation 4:11 Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You did create all things, and by Your will they existed and were created."

If a person wants to comfortably and successfully live within the Government of the nuclear family, the following admonitions apply:

First Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
Colossains 3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

First Peter 3:7 Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, placing honor on the woman as the weaker sex, since you are joint heirs of the grace of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered.

First Timothy 3:4 He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself their Savior.
24 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water [involves bathing] with the word,
27 that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
30 because we are members of His body.
31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church;
33 however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Colossians 3:18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Titus 2:3 Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good [NOT promote chauvenistic, arrogantly-sassy, feminist-sexist insubordination],
Titus 2:4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
Titus 2:5 to be sensible, chaste, domestic [NOT competing against men as sexually-harassing twits out in the corporate, media, ecclesiastical, or political business world], kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be discredited.

First Peter 3:1 Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
5 So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves [modestly and sensibly in decent apparel without erotically-obscene general-public-view mopheadedness, sleeveslessness, slackslessness, nor soxlessness] and were submissive to their husbands,
6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him 'sir.' And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you.

Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Ephesians 6:2 Honor your father and mother; this is the first commandment with a promise
Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

If a person wants to comfortably and successfully live within the Government of the Board of Directors of a Small For-Profit or Non-Profit Business, Community Association, or Corporation (be it 501(c)(3) or other), the following directives apply:

Leviticus 19:32 You shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

Esther 6:3 And the king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" The king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."
6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?" And Haman said to himself, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?"
7 and Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king delights to honor,
9 and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble princes; let him array the man whom the king delights to honor, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.'"
11 So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he arrayed Mordecai and made him ride through the open square of the city, proclaiming, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor."
Esther 7:10 And the king said, "Hang him on that." So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Esther 8:16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
Esther 10:2 And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

Colossians 3:22 Slaves [employees], obey in everything those who are your earthly masters [employers], not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord.

First Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching
First Timothy 6:1 Let all who are under the yoke of slavery [employees] regard their masters [employers] as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed.

Titus 2:9 Bid slaves [employees] to be submissive to their masters [employers] and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to be refractory
Titus 3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work

Hebrews 5:4 And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was.

First Peter 2:17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. [sound like the recent, pseudo-freedom-fighter insurrectionist, mob riots in Egypt, Tunesia, Jordan, etc?] Fear God. Honor the emperor.
First Peter 2:18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle but also to the overbearing.

First Peter 5:5 Likewise you that are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another [are we talking stones-throwing Molotov-cocktail-tossing muslims out for their Saturday worship-service revolt, or instead saintly orthodox monks quietly praying and softly singing in melodious orderly-like unison or harmonic polyphonic chant within some Judeo-Christian monastery?], for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Subjection to Higher Authority - even within the nuclear-family unity - was and yet is a lifesaver when it came even to survival.

In the case of Noah, the LORD revealed His plan to drown the entire planet with "rain" (something Noah and associates had never seen nor experienced) to father Noah - not to Noah's wife, Noah's children, nor the children's wives. I imagine Noah had an interesting time relating that prophetically-revealed upcoming news about the "rain" and proposed "Worldwide Flood" to the respectfully listening ears of his immediate family, one of whom might have had slanted eyefolds as a continuing legacy of that "mark" the LORD put on asiatic Cain (and, logically, conveyed to Cain's offspring).

It seems that God was more tolerant of both murder and incest before the Mosaic Law came on the scene, being that God did not immediately execute Cain for murdering Abel, and did both Cain and Seth got their wives from parents Adam and Eve?

Speaking of Cain, note the similarities (but stark differences) in the names of the progenie of Cain compared with the progenie of Seth:

Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD."
2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,
4 and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
8 Cain said to Abel his brother, "Let us go out to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
10 And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive [since there are no prisons around yet?] and a wanderer on the earth."
13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Hey, You have driven me this day away from the ground; and from Your face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me."
15 Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him.
16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden [the Far East?].
17 Cain knew his wife [acquired from parents Adam and Eve?], and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of Methushael, and Methushael the father of Lamech.
19 And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.
21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe [that includes piano, organ, harsichord, accordian, trumpet, oboe, and fiddle].
22 Zillah bore Tubalcain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, respond to what I say: I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me [sounds like self-defense].
24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, for Cain slew him."
26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4 The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years; and he had other sons and daughters.
5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
6 When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, he became the father of Enosh [after acquiring a wife from parents Adam and Eve, or instead from some of Cain's posterity?].
7 Seth lived after the birth of Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and had other sons and daughters.
8 Thus all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9 When Enosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Kenan.
10 Enosh lived after the birth of Kenan eight hundred and fifteen years, and had other sons and daughters.
11 Thus all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
12 When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Mahalalel.
13 Kenan lived after the birth of Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and had other sons and daughters.
14 Thus all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared.
16 Mahalalel lived after the birth of Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and had other sons and daughters.
17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
18 When Jared had lived a hundred and sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch.
19 Jared lived after the birth of Enoch eight hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.
20 Thus all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
21 When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah.
22 Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.
23 Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not [Beam me aboard, Scotty. Make it a 2 by 4], for God took him.
25 When Methuselah had lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech.
26 Methuselah lived after the birth of Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had other sons and daughters.
27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
28 When Lamech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son,
29 and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground which the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands [thank God for Farmall, Massey-Ferguson, and John Deere tractors]."
30 Lamech lived after the birth of Noah five hundred and ninety-five years, and had other sons and daughters.
31 Thus all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
32 After Noah was five hundred years old, Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.