Genesis 11
11
“God Turned Their Language into ‘Babble’”
1-2At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.
3They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
4Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”
5 God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
6-9 God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world.
* * *
10-11This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood. After he had Arphaxad, he lived 500 more years and had other sons and daughters.
12-13When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah. After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
14-15When Shelah was thirty years old, he had Eber. After Shelah had Eber, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
16-17When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had Peleg. After Eber had Peleg, he lived 430 more years and had other sons and daughters.
18-19When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu. After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.
20-21When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had Serug. After Reu had Serug, he lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.
22-23When Serug was thirty years old, he had Nahor. After Serug had Nahor, he lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.
24-25When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Family Tree of Terah
27-28This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.
29Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.
30Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.
32Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babel
1Now everyone at that time spoke a single language # 11:1 Or “one lip.” with one vocabulary. 2As people migrated eastward, # 11:2 Or “from the east.” The Hebrew is ambiguous. they found a large plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3They said to one another, “Come, let’s unite together and make bricks of clay # 11:3 God’s building never includes bricks, only stones. Man makes bricks; God is the Maker of stones. The New Jerusalem will not be made from bricks but from precious stones (see Rev. 21:18–20). Pharaoh made his treasure cities out of bricks; God raises up his temple using living stones (see 1 Peter 2:5). and burn them until they become hard.” So, they piled up the bricks they made to serve as stones and collected tar for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let’s begin work to build ourselves a city with a lofty tower that rises into the heavens. We’ll make a name for ourselves, a monument to us, # 11:4 An ancient historian, Philo Judaeus, says that each worker engraved their names on the bricks to memorialize themselves. Today their names are forgotten, and the Name of God stands as a High Tower. Seeking to make a name for ourselves is self-worship. We are to lay aside our reputations to make the Name of Jesus famous (see Phil. 2:3–11). Jesus emptied himself of his outward glory. instead of being scattered all over the earth.”
5But when Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which mortals had started building, 6he said, “If they have begun this as one people sharing a common language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let us # 11:7 In the plural pronoun many theologians see the three members of the Godhead. go down and confuse their language and prevent them from understanding each other.” # 11:7 Some linguists believe there are nearly seven thousand languages in the world. Although God confused the language of earth, he will one day purify (clarify) the language so that people will serve him in unity. See Zeph. 3:9. Acts 2 is the reversal of Babel, for God gave men unlearned languages as they spoke in tongues.
8So Yahweh scattered them over the entire earth, and they stopped building their city. # 11:8 The Bible ends with two figurative cities, Babylon and the New Jerusalem. Babylon-builders will always seek to make a name for themselves. Those who are a part of the New Jerusalem long to see only the name of Jesus exalted. The overcomer’s name will be engraved forever on a stone in the City of our God where he makes his dwelling with man (see Rev. 2:17). 9That is why the city was called Babel—because it was there that Yahweh confused # 11:9 Babel comes from the Hebrew word “to confuse.” However, in the Babylonian language, the city was called Bab-ilu, “the gate of God.” the language of the whole world and from there the people were scattered over the face of the earth.
Genealogy of Shem
10These are the descendants of Shem. # 11:10 See 1 Chron. 1:17–27; Luke 3:23–38.
Two years after the flood, at the age of one hundred, Shem had a son named Arphaxad. # 11:10 See Gen. 10:22. 11And after Arphaxad was born, Shem lived another five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad was thirty-five, he had a son named Shelah. # 11:12 See Gen. 10:24. 13And after Shelah was born Arphaxad lived another four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.
14When Shelah was thirty, he had a son named Eber. # 11:14 See Gen. 10:24. 15And after Eber was born, Shelah lived another four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber was thirty-four, he had a son named Peleg. # 11:16 See Gen. 10:25. 17And after Peleg was born, Eber lived another four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg was thirty, he had a son named Reu. 19And after Reu was born, Peleg lived another two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu was thirty-two, # 11:20 Or “one hundred and thirty-two” (LXX, Sam. Pent.). It is Jewish tradition that Reu was born when the Tower of Babel had begun to be built. Reu means “friend” or “shepherd.” he had a son named Serug. 21And after Serug was born, Reu lived another two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug was thirty, # 11:22 Or “one hundred and thirty” (LXX, Sam. Pent.). Serug means “interwoven” or “strength.” According to the Book of Jubilees, Serug was the first one of Shem’s descendants to turn from Yahweh to worship idols. It is said he taught sorcery to his son Nahor. he had a son named Nahor. 23And after Nahor was born, Serug lived another two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor was twenty-nine, he had a son named Terah. # 11:24 Terah means “wild goat” or “wanderer.” 25And after Terah was born, Nahor # 11:25 Jewish tradition states that Nahor lived in Ur, on the Euphrates in lower Mesopotamia, the place where God appeared to Abram. Nahor means “angry,” “passionate.” lived another one hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.
26When Terah was seventy, he had sons named Abram, # 11:26 This was the Patriarch who would later have his name changed to Abraham. Abram means “exalted father.” Abraham means “father of a multitude.” There were ten generations from Adam to Noah and ten generations from Shem to Abram. Nahor, and Haran. # 11:26 Haran means “living in the high place” or “mountaineer.”
The Story of Terah
27Here are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot. 28Haran preceded his father, Terah, in death in the land of his birth, in the Chaldean city of Ur. # 11:28 The word Chaldea means “demonic;” Ur means “flame.” Ur was an ancient city-state in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), which was approximately fifty miles south of Babylon. The ruins of Ur can still be seen at modern Tell el-Muqayyar. In 2000 BC, Ur was perhaps one of the largest cities of the world. It is clear that Abram and his father served foreign gods. Ur was named after the moon goddess and was her center of worship. The Chaldeans were astrologers, occultists, and idol worshipers. Ancient traditions state that Terah was an idol-maker until his death. The Jewish writers have a tradition that Abram and his father were cast into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship idols and were miraculously delivered. See Josh. 24:2. 29The brothers, Abram and Nahor, were both married. Abram’s wife was Sarai. # 11:29 Sarai means “ruler” or “my princess.” God would later change her name to “Sarah.” Nahor married the daughter of his deceased brother Haran; her name was Milcah, # 11:29 Nahor married his orphaned niece. Milcah means “queen.” and her sister was Iscah. # 11:29 Iscah means “discerner” or “one who scans abroad.” Iscah is Jessica in English. 30Now Sarai was barren and childless.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, # 11:31 Lot means “to wrap a covering” or “to envelop.” the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they all departed together from the Chaldean city of Ur to go into the land of Canaan. # 11:31 The land of Canaan takes its name from the son of Ham, Canaan. The land of Canaan is mentioned sixty-six times in the Old Testament but not found in the New Testament. But when they journeyed as far as Haran, # 11:31 Most scholars identify Haran with a city in Turkey, now in ruins, called Harran, which is approximately six hundred miles from Ur. It is the city that Jacob fled to (see Gen. 27:43; 28:10) and, later, that the Assyrians destroyed in the days of Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 19:12; Isa. 37:12). they settled there. 32Terah lived two hundred and five years and died in Haran.
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