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Genesis 11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Genesis 11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
Tower of Babel.[a] 1 The whole world had the same language and the same words. 2 When they were migrating from the east, they came to a valley in the land of Shinar[b] and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.” They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky,[c] and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6 Then the Lord said: If now, while they are one people and all have the same language, they have started to do this, nothing they presume to do will be out of their reach. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that no one will understand the speech of another. 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel,[d] because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world. From there the Lord scattered them over all the earth.
Descendants from Shem to Abraham.[e] 10 (A)These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he begot Arpachshad, two years after the flood. 11 Shem lived five hundred years after he begot Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old, he begot Shelah.[f] 13 Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he begot Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah was thirty years old, he begot Eber. 15 Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he begot Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber[g] was thirty-four years old, he begot Peleg. 17 Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he begot Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg was thirty years old, he begot Reu. 19 Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he begot Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu was thirty-two years old, he begot Serug. 21 Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he begot Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug was thirty years old, he begot Nahor. 23 Serug lived two hundred years after he begot Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he begot Terah. 25 Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he begot Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.
26 When Terah was seventy years old, he begot Abram,[h] Nahor and Haran.(B)
II. The Story of the Ancestors of Israel
Terah. 27 These are the descendants of Terah.[i] Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran begot Lot. 28 Haran died before Terah his father, in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.[j] 29 Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,[k] and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.(C) 30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there.(D) 32 The lifetime of Terah was two hundred and five years; then Terah died in Haran.[l]
Footnotes
- 11:1–9 This story illustrates increasing human wickedness, shown here in the sinful pride that human beings take in their own achievements apart from God. Secondarily, the story explains the diversity of languages among the peoples of the earth.
- 11:2 Shinar: see note on 10:10.
- 11:4 Tower with its top in the sky: possibly a reference to the chief ziggurat of Babylon, E-sag-ila, lit., “the house that raises high its head.”
- 11:9 Babel: the Hebrew form of the name “Babylon”; the Babylonians interpreted their name for the city, Bab-ili, as “gate of god.” The Hebrew word balal, “he confused,” has a similar sound.
- 11:10–26 The second Priestly genealogy goes from Shem to Terah and his three sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran, just as the genealogy in 5:3–32 went from Adam to Noah and his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This genealogy marks the important transition in Genesis between the story of the nations in 1:1–11:26 and the story of Israel in the person of its ancestors (11:27–50:26). As chaps. 1–11 showed the increase and spread of the nations, so chaps. 12–50 will show the increase and spread of Israel. The contrast between Israel and the nations is a persistent biblical theme. The ages given here are from the Hebrew text; the Samaritan and Greek texts have divergent sets of numbers in most cases. In comparable accounts of the pre-flood period, enormous life spans are attributed to human beings. It may be an attempt to show that the pre-flood generations were extraordinary and more vital than post-flood human beings.
- 11:12 The Greek text adds Kenan (cf. 5:9–10) between Arpachshad and Shelah. The Greek listing is followed in Lk 3:36.
- 11:16 Eber: the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, “descendants of Eber” (10:21, 24–30); see note on 14:13.
- 11:26 Abram is a dialectal variant of Abraham. God will change his name in view of his new task in 17:4.
- 11:27 Descendants of Terah: elsewhere in Genesis the story of the son is introduced by the name of the father (25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2). The Abraham-Sarah stories begin (11:27–32) and end with genealogical notices (25:1–18), which concern, respectively, the families of Terah and of Abraham. Most of the traditions in the cycle are from the Yahwist source. The so-called Elohist source (E) is somewhat shadowy, denied by some scholars but recognized by others in passages that duplicate other narratives (20:1–18 and 21:22–34). The Priestly source consists mostly of brief editorial notices, except for chaps. 17 and 23.
- 11:28 Ur of the Chaldeans: Ur was an extremely ancient city of the Sumerians (later, of the Babylonians) in southern Mesopotamia. The Greek text has “the land of the Chaldeans.” After a millennium of relative unimportance, Ur underwent a revival during the Neo-Babylonian/Chaldean empire (625–539 B.C.). The sixth-century author here identified the place by its contemporary name. As chap. 24 shows, Haran in northern Mesopotamia is in fact the native place of Abraham. In the Genesis perspective, the human race originated in the East (3:24; 4:16) and migrated from there to their homelands (11:2). Terah’s family moved from the East (Ur) and Abraham will complete the journey to the family’s true homeland in the following chapters.
- 11:29 Sarai: like Abram, a dialectal variant of the more usual form of the name Sarah. In 17:15, God will change it to Sarah in view of her new task.
- 11:32 Since Terah was seventy years old when his son Abraham was born (v. 26), and Abraham was seventy-five when he left Haran (12:4), Terah lived in Haran for sixty years after Abraham’s departure. According to the tradition in the Samaritan text, Terah died when he was one hundred and forty-five years old, therefore, in the same year in which Abraham left Haran. This is the tradition followed in Stephen’s speech: Abraham left Haran “after his father died” (Acts 7:4).
Genesis 11
New International Version
Genesis 11
New International Version
The Tower of Babel
11 Now the whole world had one language(A) and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b](B) and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks(C) and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,(D) and tar(E) for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,(F) so that we may make a name(G) for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered(H) over the face of the whole earth.”(I)
5 But the Lord came down(J) to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language(K) they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us(L) go down(M) and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”(N)
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,(O) and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c](P)—because there the Lord confused the language(Q) of the whole world.(R) From there the Lord scattered(S) them over the face of the whole earth.
From Shem to Abram(T)
10 This is the account(U) of Shem’s family line.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father[d] of Arphaxad.(V) 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.(W) 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.[e]
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.(X) 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.(Y) 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.(Z) 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.(AA) 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.(AB) 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.(AC) 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram,(AD) Nahor(AE) and Haran.(AF)
Abram’s Family
27 This is the account(AG) of Terah’s family line.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor(AH) and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.(AI) 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans,(AJ) in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor(AK) both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,(AL) and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah;(AM) she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. 30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.(AN)
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot(AO) son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law(AP) Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans(AQ) to go to Canaan.(AR) But when they came to Harran,(AS) they settled there.
32 Terah(AT) lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.
Footnotes
- Genesis 11:2 Or from the east; or in the east
- Genesis 11:2 That is, Babylonia
- Genesis 11:9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
- Genesis 11:10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25.
- Genesis 11:13 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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