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.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babel
1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in #ch. 10:10; 14:1, 9; Isa. 11:11; Dan. 1:2; Zech. 5:11the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, #ch. 14:10; Ex. 2:3and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower #Deut. 1:28with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5And #ch. 18:21the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, #ch. 1:26; [Ps. 2:4]let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So #ch. 10:25, 32; Luke 1:51the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore its name was called #ch. 10:10Babel, because there the Lord confused#11:9 Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Shem’s Descendants
10 # [ch. 10:22]; For ver. 10-26, see 1 Chr. 1:17-27 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. 13And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. 15And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. 17And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. 19And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. 21And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. 23And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When #Josh. 24:2Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. 25And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26When #[See ver. 24 above]Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Terah’s Descendants
27Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was #ch. 17:15 Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, #ch. 22:20Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31Terah #ch. 12:1 took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together #ch. 15:7; Josh. 24:2; Neh. 9:7; Acts 7:2, 4from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
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