Augustine of Hippo : Moreover the difference in numbers that we find between the Hebrew text and our own constitutes no disagreement about this longevity of the ancients. If any discrepancy is such that the two versions cannot both be true, we must seek the authentic account of events in the language from which our text was translated. Though this opportunity is universally available to those who wish to take it, yet, significantly enough, no one has ventured to correct the Septuagint version from the Hebrew text in the very many places where it seems to offer something different. The reason is that those differences were not considered falsifications, nor do I think that they should be so regarded in any way. Rather, where no error by the copyist is ascertained and where the sense would be harmonious with the truth and would proclaim the truth, we should believe that they were moved by the Holy Spirit to say something differently, not as part of the service that they did as translators but as exercising the freedom that they enjoyed as prophets. — City of God 15.14 Bede : Methuselah also lived one hundred eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, and begot Noah, saying: "He will comfort us from our works and labors of our hands on the earth which the Lord has cursed." Lamech foresaw in prophetic spirit what kind of person his son would be, of what great virtue he would be, and that in his days the nation of the impious would be exterminated, and that through him, after the flood, the generation of the faithful would be restored. But the works and labors of the hands, which he said, I believe he wanted not to be understood as anything other than those by which the progeny of the elect were oppressed at that time by the wickedness of the evil; he declared that his and their consolation, when the world, which was then lost by the flood, all things of the world and its inhabitants being removed from the midst, would foresee a new race of the just to be born. For even at this time, the consolation of the good is when they see the approaching day of judgment with the ruins of the world increasing, in which, the entirety of the wicked being consumed, they themselves will possess with the Lord the new kingdoms of the future age. But for what our edition has as "he will comfort," the ancient interpreters said: "He will make us rest from our works," which seems to fit the name Noah better. For Noah indeed means Rest. In which, according to the letter, it can be understood that in his times all past works of men rested through the flood. According to the spiritual sense, however, the same rest is which is also the consolation of the saints, namely to behold, with the end of the world approaching, both the destruction of the impious, and their own time of rewards at hand. But Noah, in whose merits a rest and consolation was to be given to the world by the Lord devoutly, is born in the tenth generation from Adam: because clearly, through the fulfillment of the Decalogue of the law, eternal rest and life are granted to us. When Scripture says he begot him well, it by no means wished to name his one son, lest in a perfect man the number eleven, as if a transgression of ten, should appear to have any place, but speaking mystically about a man of virtue, it reports that three sons were born to him together. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Jerome : (Verse 25.) And Methuselah lived for 167 years and begot Lamech. And Methuselah lived, after he begot Lamech, for 802 years, and he begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah, that he lived, were 969 years, and he died. The famous question, and the subject of dispute among all the churches, is that, according to careful calculation, Methuselah is said to have lived fourteen years after the flood. For when Methuselah was sixty-seven years old, he begot Lamech. And again, Lamech, when he was eighty-eight years old, begot Noah. And they lived together until the day of Noah's birth, which was three hundred and fifty-five years after Methuselah's birth. But in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, the flood occurred. And by this calculation, it is proven that the flood happened in the nine hundred and fifty-fifth year of Methuselah's life. However, since he is said to have lived for more than 969 years, there is no doubt that he lived for 14 years after the flood. And how is it true that only eight souls were saved in the ark? Therefore, it remains that just as there is an error in number in many things, there is also an error in this. For in both the Hebrew and Samaritan books, I found it written: And Methuselah lived 187 years and fathered Lamech. And Methuselah lived, after he begot Lamech, seven hundred eighty-two years and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, and he died. And Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years and begot Noah. From the day of the birth of Methuselah to the day of the birth of Noah, there are three hundred sixty-nine years. Add to these six hundred years of Noah's life: because in the six hundredth year of his life the deluge occurred: and so it happens that in the nine hundred and sixty-ninth year of his life Methuselah died, in that year when the deluge began. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis Augustine of Hippo : THE LENGTH OF THE LIFE OF METHUSELAH. — They often wondered how Methuselah, according to the calculation of his years, could live after the flood, if, as the Scripture says, all men perished except those who entered the ark (Cf. Gen. 7:21-22). In this respect it must be said that the question arises because of the poor preservation of the manuscripts, for not only the Hebrew manuscripts contain different numbers, but some manuscripts of the Septuagint, few but the best, say Methuselah died six years before the flood. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 1 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)