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Genesis 11

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The Tower of Babel 1–9

1
And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. ​
2
And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. ​
3
And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4
And they said, Come, 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. ​
5
And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. ​
6
And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. ​
7
Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8
So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city.
9
Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. ​

The Line from Shem to Terah 10–26

10
These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood: ​
11
and Shem lived after he begat Arpachshad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
12
And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begat Shelah:
13
and Arpachshad lived after he begat Shelah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
14
And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
15
and Shelah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
16
And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: ​
17
and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
18
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: ​
19
and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
20
And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
21
and Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
22
And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
23
and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
24
And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
25
and Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
26
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. ​

Terah’s Family Settles in Haran 27–32

27
Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. ​
28
And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. ​
29
And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
30
And Sarai was barren; she had no child. ​
31
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. ​
32
And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 11

Verse 1

one language, and of one speech — Literally 'one lip' (saphah) and 'words' (dabar). Chapter 10 already lists the nations 'after his tongue' (10:5), so this verse looks back to the single speech before the scattering of vv.8–9. Zephaniah promises 'a pure language' (saphah again), that all may 'call upon the name of the LORD' (Zeph 3:9).

Verse 2

a plain in the land of Shinar — Biqah, a wide level valley. Shinar is where Nimrod's kingdom began: 'Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar' (10:10). The name outlasts the story: Nebuchadnezzar carried the temple vessels 'into the land of Shinar' (Dan 1:2), and Isaiah names it among the lands of the remnant (Isa 11:11).

Verse 4

let us make us a name — 'Go to' is yahab, 'come'; the LORD answers with the same word, 'Go to, let us go down' (v.7). The builders fear being 'scattered abroad' (puts) and look for a name (shem) in what they build. God had told Noah's sons to 'replenish the earth' (Gen 9:1), and to Abram he says, 'make thy name great' (Gen 12:2).

Verse 5

came down to see — Yarad, to descend: the tower whose top was to 'reach unto heaven' (v.4) is something the LORD comes down to see. The same going down to look into a matter is in 'I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it' (Gen 18:21), and Ps 33:13: 'The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.'

Verse 6

nothing will be restrained — Batsar, to cut off or withhold, the verb of Job 42:2, 'no thought can be withholden from thee'; here it is said of what men purpose. Zamam, 'imagined', is a plan, usually an evil one, and 'begin' marks this as only a start. As in Gen 3:22, which opens with 'Behold' too, the LORD acts to limit what man may do next.

Verse 9

Babel — The name is tied to balal, to mix or confuse, the verb of 'confound' here and in v.7. 'Scattered abroad' (puts) is the very word of the builders' fear in v.4, 'lest we be scattered abroad': what they built against came. The KJV renders the same Hebrew name 'Babylon' elsewhere (2 Kings 17:24). Paul says God set 'the bounds of their habitation' (Acts 17:26).

Verse 10

the generations of Shem — Toledah, the heading that opens the sections of Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2). From Shem to Abram (v.26) the list holds ten names, as ch.5 does from Adam to Noah, narrowing from all mankind to the one line that runs on to Christ (Luke 3:34–36).

Verse 16

Eber — He is the father of the Ibri, the Hebrews (Strong's: an Eberite). Shem is called 'the father of all the children of Eber' (10:21), and Abram is first named 'the Hebrew' in 14:13. Eber's son Peleg, born when Eber was thirty-four, is named for a division (v.18).

Verse 18

Peleg — From palag, to split or divide: 'in his days was the earth divided' (10:25). The same verb is used of speech in Ps 55:9, 'divide their tongues', and the division of the earth is commonly read as the scattering at Babel (vv.8–9). Peleg lived 209 years after the birth of Reu (v.19).

Verse 26

Abram, Nahor, and Haran — Terah's seventy years need not date Abram's birth. Abram was seventy-five when he left Haran (Gen 12:4), after his father's death (Acts 7:4), and Terah died at 205 (v.32), which puts Abram's birth no earlier than Terah's 130th year. Like 'Shem, Ham, and Japheth', where Japheth is 'the elder' (10:21), he is named first as the one the story follows.

Verse 27

the generations of Terah — The same heading (toledah) as v.10. The next, Ishmael's, stands at 25:12, so the life of Abraham, to his death in 25:8, lies under Terah's name. Haran 'begat Lot', the nephew who goes with Abram (12:4) and is later called 'just Lot' (2 Pet 2:7).

Verse 28

before his father Terah — Literally 'on the face of' his father (panim): Haran died in his father's lifetime. 'Ur of the Chaldees' lay in Mesopotamia, where 'the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham' (Acts 7:2); the LORD later says, 'I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees' (Gen 15:7). Terah's household 'served other gods' (Josh 24:2).

Verse 30

Sarai was barren — Aqar, sterile, used again of Rebekah (25:21) and of Rachel (29:31): the promised line passes through a barren wife three times. Isaac is born when 'the LORD visited Sarah as he had said' (21:1). Paul counts 'the deadness of Sara's womb' among the things Abraham 'considered not' (Rom 4:19).

Verse 31

came unto Haran — The man is Haran (H2039); the city is Charan (H2771), a different Hebrew name, though the KJV spells both Haran here. Acts 7:2 has 'Charran'. Terah sets out 'to go into the land of Canaan' but stops and 'dwelt there'. The call, 'Get thee out of thy country' (Acts 7:3), had come to Abram before Haran (12:1).