11:1 Now all the earth ①used the same language and ②the same words.
▷ ①Lit was one lip ②Or few or one set of words
11:2 And it came about, as they journeyed ①east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and ②settled there.
▷ ①Or from the east ②Lit dwelt
11:3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and ①fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
▷ ①I.e., in a kiln to harden them
11:4 And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.”
11:5 Now the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the ①men had built.
▷ ①Lit sons of mankind
11:6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have ①the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be ②impossible for them.
▷ ①Lit one lip ②Lit inaccessible to
11:7 Come, ①let Us go down and there confuse their ②language, so that they will not understand one another’s ③speech.”
▷ ①I.e., indicating united action, not a request ②Lit lip ③Lit lip
11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city.
11:9 Therefore it was named ①Babel, because there the LORD confused the ②language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
▷ ①Or Babylon; cf. Heb balal, confuse ②Lit lip
11:10 These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood;
11:11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and fathered Shelah;
11:13 and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:14 Shelah lived thirty years, and fathered Eber;
11:15 and Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and fathered Peleg;
11:17 and Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:18 Peleg lived thirty years, and fathered Reu;
11:19 and Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and fathered Serug;
11:21 and Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:22 Serug lived thirty years, and fathered Nahor;
11:23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and fathered Terah;
11:25 and Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
11:26 Terah lived seventy years, and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
11:27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
11:28 Haran died ①during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
▷ ①Lit before the face of
11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah ①and Iscah.
▷ ①Lit and the father of
11:30 Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.
11:31 Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they departed ①together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and ②settled there.
▷ ①Lit with them ②Lit dwelt
11:32 The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.