So. Verse 17 is the Figure of speech Symperasma. App-6.
all the generations. See the Structure, above. The first begins with the call of Abraham, and ends with the call of David the layman (1 Samuel 16:13). The second begins with the building of the Temple, and ends with the destruction of it. The third begins with the nation under the power of Babylon, and ends with it under the power of Rome (the first and fourth of the world-powers of Daniel 2).
the: i.e. the generations given above, not all recorded in the O.T. fourteen. It is not stated that there were forty-two, but three fourteens are reckoned in. special manner, as shown in the Structure above. Note the three divisions of the whole period, as in the seventy weeks of Daniel (Daniel 9. App-91).