Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babel
1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As people moved eastward,#11:2 Or from the east; or in the east they found a plain in Shinar#11:2 That is, Babylonia and settled there.
3They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel#11:9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
From Shem to Abram
10This is the account of Shem’s family line.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father#11:10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25. of Arphaxad. 11And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.#11:13 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35,36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
14When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Abram’s Family
27This is the account of Terah’s family line.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. 30Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.
32Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.
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Genesis 11
11
1At that time the whole world spoke just one language and used words with the same meaning. 2As they moved east they discovered a plain in the land of Shinar so they settled there.
3They said to one another, “Come on, let's make some bricks and bake them with fire.” (They used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of cement).#11:3. This was because in the Babylonian plain there was no stone to use for buildings. 4Then they said, “Now let's build a city for ourselves with a tower whose top reaches the heavens. That way we'll gain a great reputation and we won't end up being scattered all over the world.”
5But the Lord came down to take a look at the city and the tower that the people were building. 6The Lord said, “Look! These people are united and they all speak one language. If this is what they can do now when they're just getting started, nothing will be impossible for them when they all put their minds to it! 7We need to go down and mix up their language and make it confused so they won't be able to understand what they're saying to one other.”
8The Lord sent them away from there and scattered them all over the world, and they gave up building the city. 9That's why it was called Babel,#11:9. Babel sounds like the Hebrew word for “confuse.” because the Lord made the language of the world confused.
10The following is the genealogy of Shem. When Shem was 100, he had Arphaxad. This was two years after the flood. 11Shem lived another 500 years after Arphaxad was born and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad was 35, he had Shelah. 13Arphaxad lived another 403 years after Shelah was born and had other sons and daughters.
14When Shelah was 30, he had Eber. 15Shelah lived another 403 years after Eber was born and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber was 34, he had Peleg. 17Eber lived another 430 years after Peleg was born and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg was 30, he had Reu. 19Peleg lived another 209 years after Reu was born and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu was 32, he had Serug. 21Reu lived another 207 years after Serug was born and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug was 30, he had Nahor. 23Serug lived another 200 years after Nahor was born and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor was 29, he had Terah. 25Nahor lived another 119 years after Terah was born and had other sons and daughters.
26When Terah was 70, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.#11:26. Once again (see note on 5:32) these sons are not listed in birth order. Abram is listed first because of his importance.
27The following is the genealogy of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. 28However, Haran died while his father, Terah, was still alive, in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth. 29Abram and Nahor both got married. Abram's wife was named Sarai, and Nahor's wife was named Milcah. (She was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah). 30Sarai wasn't able to become pregnant and so had no children.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (who was the son of Haran), his daughter-in-law Sarai (the wife of his son Abram), and left Ur of the Chaldeans to move to the land of Canaan. They got as far as Haran and settled there. 32Terah lived for 205 years and died in Haran.
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com