Genesis11
King James Version · Public Domain
1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4And they said, Go to, 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.
5And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
10These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
11And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
12And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
13And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
14And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
15And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
16And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
17And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
18And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
19And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
20And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
21And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
22And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
23And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
24And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
25And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
26And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
28And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29And 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.
30But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31And 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 Chaldeans, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
32And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 11.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: One language in the world, The building of Babel. (1–4). The confusion of tongues, The builders of Babel dispersed. (5–9). The descendants of Shem. (10–26). Terah, father of Abram, grandfather of Lot, they remove to Haran. (27–32).
vv1-4
How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolations of the deluge were before their eyes, though they sprang from the stock of righteous Noah, yet even during his life-time, wickedness increases exceedingly. Nothing but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit can remove the sinful lusts of the human will, and the depravity of the human heart. God's purpose was, that mankind should form many nations, and people all lands. In contempt of the Divine will, and against the counsel of Noah, the bulk of mankind united to build a city and a tower to prevent their separating. Idolatry was begun, and Babel became one of its chief seats. They made one another more daring and resolute. Let us learn to provoke one another to love and to good works, as sinners stir up and encourage one another to wicked works.
vv5-9
Here is an expression after the manner of men; The Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all he does against sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God; their souls joined not themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God suffered them to go on some way, that the works of their hands, from which they promised themselves lasting honour, might turn to their lasting reproach. God has wise and holy ends, in allowing the enemies of his glory to carry on their wicked projects a great way, and to prosper long. Observe the wisdom and mercy of God, in the methods taken for defeating this undertaking. And the mercy of God in not making the penalty equal to the offence; for he deals not with us according to our sins. The wisdom of God, in fixing upon a sure way to stop these proceedings. If they could not understand one another, they could not help one another; this would take them off from their building. God has various means, and effectual ones, to baffle and defeat the projects of proud men that set themselves against him, and particularly he divides them among themselves. Notwithstanding their union and obstinacy God was above them; for who ever hardened his heart against him, and prospered? Their language was confounded. We all suffer by it to this day: in all the pains and trouble used to learn the languages we have occasion for, we suffer for the rebellion of our ancestors at Babel. Nay, and those unhappy disputes, which are strifes of words, and arise from misunderstanding one another's words, for aught we know, are owing to this confusion of tongues. They left off to build the city. The confusion of their tongues not only unfitted them for helping one another, but they saw the hand of the Lord gone out against them. It is wisdom to leave off that which we see God fights against. God is able to blast and bring to nought all the devices and designs of Babel-builders: there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord. The builders departed according to their families, and the tongue they spake, to the countries and places allotted to them. The children of men never did, nor ever will, come all together again, till the great day, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and all nations shall be gathered before him.
vv10-26
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the same places where we live, as we likewise know little of those who now live in distant places! We have enough to do to mind our own work. When the earth began to be peopled, men's lives began to shorten; this was the wise disposal of Providence.
Key Words
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
אֶחָד: properly, united, i.e. one; or (as an ordinal) first
שָׂפָה: the lip (as a natural boundary); by implication, language; by analogy, a margin (of a vessel, water, cloth, etc.)
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
נָסַע: properly, to pull up, especially the tent-pins, i.e. start on ajourney
קֶדֶם: the front, of place (absolutely, the fore part, relatively the East) or time (antiquity); often used adverbially (before, anciently, eastward)
מָצָא: properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist; transitively, to attain, i.e. find or acquire; figuratively, to occur, meet or be present
בִּקְעָה: properly, a split, i.e. a wide level valley between mountains
שִׁנְעָר: Shinar, a plain in Babylonia
Cross References
Genesis 11Pentecost reverses the Babel judgment, gathering all nations into one family under Christ.
Supported by JFB
Stephen explains God's call to Abraham while he was in Ur, before dwelling in Haran.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The plural 'let us' reflects the counsel of the blessed Trinity as in creation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Peleg's name means division, noting when the earth was divided at the confusion of tongues.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explicitly names Terah, father of Abraham, as serving other gods beyond the River Euphrates.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Nehemiah recalls Yahweh choosing Abram and bringing him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies Shinar as the kingdom of Nimrod, the aggressive leader of this rebellion.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The figurative hyperbole of cities and walls reaching up to heaven.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
God speaking in holy irony regarding man's pride and self-exaltation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
God setting boundaries for nations according to his sovereign purpose of dispersion.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
God confirms his covenant by reminding Abram that he brought him out of Ur.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Abraham explains his marriage to Sarah, the daughter of his father but not his mother.
Supported by JFB
Highlights Abraham's faith in leaving his homeland, starting from Ur and moving toward Canaan.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Confirms the abundant local presence of slime or bitumen pits in the region.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Further scriptural use of the hyperbole of heights reaching 'up to heaven'.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel genealogical record confirming the line from Shem to Abram.
Supported by John Calvin
Traces the post-flood Messianic genealogy through Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, and Peleg.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Confirms the lineage from Terah to Abram, who is identified as Abraham.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Introduces the renaming of Sarai to Sarah, crucial to the ongoing promise.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Provides detail on the family of Nahor and Milcah, linking back to this genealogy.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The immediate consequence of Terah's journey, containing the command to leave country and family.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Prophetic association of Shinar with wickedness and false worship.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Lord bringing the counsel of the heathen nations to nothing.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Traces Jesus' lineage back through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, and Nachor.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Reiterates Sarai's barrenness, setting up the conflict with Hagar.
Refers back to the homeland they left behind and could have returned to.
Illustration of the necessity of understanding speech for basic human cooperation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
God frustrating the devices of the crafty so they cannot perform their enterprise.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies Rebekah as daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah the wife of Nahor.
Supported by Matthew Henry