And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
All Commentaries on Genesis 5:25 Go To Genesis 5
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
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.
