Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babylon
1The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. 2As people migrated from the east,#11:2 Or migrated eastward they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.#Gn 10:10; 14:1; Dn 1:2 3They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt#Gn 14:10; Ex 2:3 for mortar.) 4And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky.#Dt 1:28; 9:1; Ps 107:26 Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
5Then the Lord came down#Gn 18:21; Ex 3:8; 19:11,18,20 to look over the city and the tower that the humans#11:5 Or the descendants of Adam were building. 6The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth,#Gn 11:4; Ps 92:9; Lk 1:51 and they stopped building the city. 9Therefore it is called Babylon,#11:9 Hb Babel#11:9 In Hb, the name for “Babylon,” babel sounds like the word for “confuse,” balal.#Gn 10:10 for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.
From Shem to Abram
10These are the family records#Gn 2:4; 11:27 of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 12Arpachshad lived 35 years#11:12–13 LXX reads years and fathered Cainan. 13 After he fathered Cainan, Arpachshad lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters, and he died. Cainan lived 130 years and fathered Shelah. After he fathered Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and fathered other sons and daughters, and he died; Gn 10:24; Lk 3:35–36 and fathered Shelah. 13After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 14Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber. 15After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 16Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg. 17After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 18Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu. 19After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 20Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug. 21After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 22Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. 23After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 24Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.#Jos 24:2 25After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters. 26Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. 28Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. 29Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai,#Gn 17:15; 20:12 and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah.#Gn 22:20,23; 24:15 She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30Sarai was unable to conceive;#Gn 25:21; 29:31; Ex 23:26; Jdg 13:2–3; 1Sm 2:5; Jb 24:21; Is 54:1; Lk 1:36; 23:29; Gl 4:27; Heb 11:11 she did not have a child.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans#Gn 15:7; Neh 9:7; Ac 7:4 to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.
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Genesis 11: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Genesis 11
11
1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shin’ar; and they dwelt there.
3And they said one to another, come (let us begin!), let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4And they said, come (let us begin!), let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5And the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.
6And the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8So the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) scattered them abroad from there upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build [stopped building] the city.
9Therefore is the name of it called Bavel (to jumble, or a confused medley of sounds; confusion; gate of the deity) (to jumble, or a confused medley of sounds); because the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) did there confound the language of all the earth: and from there did the Lord-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
10These [are] the generations of Shem (name, renown (great reputation; being well-known)): Shem (name, renown (great reputation; being well-known)) [was] an hundred years old, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Arpakhshad (meaning unknown; pos. reference to a “stronghold of the Kasdim [Kasdim [clod-breakers]] [Sorcerers]) two years after the flood:
11And Shem (name, renown (great reputation; being well-known)) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Arpakhshad (meaning unknown; pos. reference to a “stronghold of the Kasdim [Kasdim [clod-breakers]] [Sorcerers]) five hundred years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
12And Arpakhshad (meaning unknown; pos. reference to a “stronghold of the Kasdim [Kasdim [clod-breakers]] [Sorcerers]) lived five and thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Shelach (Sent Out, Branch or Javelin; to prosper, rest):
13And Arpakhshad (meaning unknown; pos. reference to a “stronghold of the Kasdim [Kasdim [clod-breakers]] [Sorcerers]) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Shelach (Sent Out, Branch or Javelin; to prosper, rest) four hundred and three years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
14And Shelach (Sent Out, Branch or Javelin; to prosper, rest) lived thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) ‘Ever (the region beyond; pass over, through, take away; overflowing of temper: wrath and rage; fury; to be arrogant or infuriate oneself):
15And Shelach (Sent Out, Branch or Javelin; to prosper, rest) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) ‘Ever (the region beyond; pass over, through, take away; overflowing of temper: wrath and rage; fury; to be arrogant or infuriate oneself) four hundred and three years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
16And ‘Ever (the region beyond; pass over, through, take away; overflowing of temper: wrath and rage; fury; to be arrogant or infuriate oneself) lived four and thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Peleg (Division or Divider; specif. channel or canal):
17And ‘Ever (the region beyond; pass over, through, take away; overflowing of temper: wrath and rage; fury; to be arrogant or infuriate oneself) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Peleg (Division or Divider; specif. channel or canal) four hundred and thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
18And Peleg (Division or Divider; specific channel or canal) lived thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Re’u (associate with, be a friend of; friend; in general has some relationship to the concept of evil):
19And Peleg (Division or Divider; specif. channel or canal) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Re’u (associate with, be a friend of; friend) two hundred and nine years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
20And Re’u (associate with, be a friend of; friend) lived two and thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) S’rug (Branch):
21And Re’u (associate with, be a friend of; friend) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) S’rug (Branch) two hundred and seven years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
22And S’rug (Branch) lived thirty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched):
23And S’rug (Branch) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched) two hundred years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
24And Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched) lived nine and twenty years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired):
25And Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched) lived after he begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) an hundred and nineteen years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) sons and daughters.
26And Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) lived seventy years, and begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation), Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched), and Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous).
27Now these [are] the generations of Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired): Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation), Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched), and Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous); and Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous) begat (to be father of; be ancestor of) Lot (Covering).
28And Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous) died before his father Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) in the land of his nativity, in Ur (Fire; Flame or Light) of the Kasdim [Kasdim [clod-breakers]] (Sorcerers) [Fire of the Sorcerers].
29And Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) and Nokhor (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched) took them wives: the name of Avram’s (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) wife [was] Sarai (My Princess); and the name of Nokhor’s (a snort, a snorting; charred, scorched) wife, Milkah (Counsel; Queen), the daughter of Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous), the father of Milkah (Counsel; Queen), and the father of Yiskah.
30But Sarai (My Princess) was barren; she [had] no child.
31And Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) took Avram (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) his son, and Lot (Covering) the son of Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous) his son’s son, and Sarai (My Princess) his daughter in law, his son Avram’s (Exalted Father; Father Of Elevation) wife; and they went forth with them from Ur (Flame or Light) of the Kasdim [Kasdim [clod-breakers]] (Sorcerers), to go into the land of Kena’an (merchant; trader; or that humbles and subdues); and they came unto Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous), and dwelt there.
32And the days of Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) were two hundred and five years: and Terakh (Wanderer; Esprit, Spirited, Inspired) died in Haran [mountaineer] (Mountaineer or Mountainous).
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