Genesis 11 Bible in Basic English

About BBE

Scholarly edition
OT: Masoretic Hebrew (not verified)
NT: Critical text (not verified)
Protestant (66 books)
Simplified language
1965
Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

BBE Bible in Basic English

RV1909 Reina-Valera 1909

1 And all the earth had one language and one tongue.

1 ERA entonces toda la tierra de una lengua y unas mismas palabras.

2 And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.

2 Y aconteció que, como se partieron de oriente, hallaron una vega en la tierra de Shinar, y asentaron allí.

3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.

3 Y dijeron los unos á los otros: Vaya, hagamos ladrillo y cozámoslo con fuego. Y fuéles el ladrillo en lugar de piedra, y el betún en lugar de mezcla.

4 And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.

4 Y dijeron: Vamos, edifiquémonos una ciudad y una torre, cuya cúspide [llegue] al cielo; y hagámonos un nombre, por si fuéremos esparcidos sobre la faz de toda la tierra.

5 And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.

5 Y descendió Jehová para ver la ciudad y la torre que edificaban los hijos de los hombres.

6 And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.

6 Y dijo Jehová: He aquí el pueblo es uno, y todos éstos tienen un lenguaje: y han comenzado á obrar, y nada les retraerá ahora de lo que han pensando hacer.

7 Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.

7 Ahora pues, descendamos, y confundamos allí sus lenguas, para que ninguno entienda el habla de su compañero.

8 So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.

8 Así los esparció Jehová desde allí sobre la faz de toda la tierra, y dejaron de edificar la ciudad.

9 So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.

9 Por esto fué llamado el nombre de ella Babel, porque allí confundió Jehová el lenguaje de toda la tierra, y desde allí los esparció sobre la faz de toda la tierra.

10 ◆ These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters;

10 Estas son las generaciones de Sem: Sem, de edad de cien años, engendró á Arphaxad, dos años después del diluvio.

11 ◆ And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

11 Y vivió Sem, después que engendró á Arphaxad, quinientos años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

12 ◆ And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah:

12 Y Arphaxad vivió treinta y cinco años, y engendró á Sala.

13 ◆ And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

13 Y vivió Arphaxad, después que engendró á Sala, cuatrocientos y tres años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

14 ◆ And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:

14 Y vivió Sala treinta años, y engendró á Heber.

15 ◆ And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

15 Y vivió Sala, después que engendró á Heber, cuatrocientos y tres años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

16 ◆ And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg:

16 Y vivió Heber treinta y cuatro años, y engendró á Peleg.

17 ◆ And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:

17 Y vivió Heber, después que engendró á Peleg, cuatrocientos y treinta años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

18 ◆ And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu:

18 Y vivió Peleg treinta años, y engendró á Reu.

19 ◆ And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters:

19 Y vivió Peleg, después que engendró á Reu, doscientos y nueve años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

20 ◆ And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug:

20 Y Reu vivió treinta y dos años, y engendró á Serug.

21 ◆ And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:

21 Y vivió Reu, después que engendró á Serug, doscientos y siete años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

22 ◆ And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor:

22 Y vivió Serug treinta años, y engendró á Nachôr.

23 ◆ And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

23 Y vivió Serug, después que engendró á Nachôr, doscientos años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

24 ◆ And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:

24 Y vivió Nachôr veintinueve años, y engendró á Thare.

25 ◆ And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters:

25 Y vivió Nachôr, después que engendró á Thare, ciento diecinueve años, y engendró hijos é hijas.

26 ◆ And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

26 Y vivió Thare setenta años, y engendró á Abram, y á Nachôr, y á Harán.

27 These are the generations of Terah: Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.

27 Estas son las generaciones de Thare: Thare engendró á Abram, y á Nachôr, y á Harán; y Harán engendró á Lot.

28 And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees.

28 Y murió Harán antes que su padre Thare en la tierra de su naturaleza, en Ur de los Caldeos.

29 And 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 and Iscah.

29 Y tomaron Abram y Nachôr para sí mujeres: el nombre de la mujer de Abram fué Sarai, y el nombre de la mujer de Nachôr, Milca, hija de Harán, padre de Milca y de Isca.

30 And Sarai had no child.

30 Mas Sarai fué estéril, y no tenía hijo.

31 And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram and they went out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and were there for some time.

31 Y tomó Thare á Abram su hijo, y á Lot hijo de Harán, hijo de su hijo, y á Sarai su nuera, mujer de Abram su hijo: y salió con ellos de Ur de los Caldeos, para ir á la tierra de Canaán: y vinieron hasta Harán, y asentaron allí.

32 And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five: and Terah came to his end in Haran.

32 Y fueron los días de Thare doscientos y cinco años; y murió Thare en Harán.

People & places in this chapter

From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.

People

Arphaxad
Son of Shem
Born two years after the flood, a link from Shem toward Abraham.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 10:22–24; 11:10–13
See in the family tree
Eber
Namesake of the Hebrews
The name behind the word 'Hebrew,' father of Peleg.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 10:24–25; 11:14–17
See in the family tree
Haran
Father of Lot
Abraham's brother who died young in Ur, leaving his son Lot.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:26–31
See in the family tree
Iscah
Daughter of Haran
A daughter of Haran and the sister of Milcah, named only in the account of Terah's family.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:29
See in the family tree
Lot
Abraham's nephew
Abraham's nephew who chose the plain of Jordan and settled near Sodom.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11–14; 19
See in the family tree
Milcah
Wife of Nahor, daughter of Haran
Haran's daughter and the sister of Iscah, who became the wife of Nahor.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:29; Genesis 22:20; Genesis 22:23
See in the family tree
Nahor
Abraham's grandfather
The grandfather of Abraham, standing just before Terah in the line.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:22–25
See in the family tree
Nahor
Son of Terah, brother of Abram
Terah's son and the brother of Abram and Haran, who took Milcah, the daughter of Haran, as his wife.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:26; Genesis 11:27; Genesis 11:29
See in the family tree
Peleg
Son of Eber
In his days, Scripture says, the earth was divided.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 10:25; 11:16–19
See in the family tree
Reu
Son of Peleg
A link in the generations descending toward Abraham.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:18–21
See in the family tree
Serug
Son of Reu
Great-grandfather of Abraham in the line from Shem.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:20–23
See in the family tree
Shelah
Son of Arphaxad
A quiet link in the line from Shem to Eber and Abraham.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 10:24; 11:12–15
See in the family tree
Shem
Ancestor of the Hebrews
Noah's blessed son, ancestor of the Semitic peoples and of Abraham.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 9:18–10:31; 11:10–26
See in the family tree
Terah
Father of Abraham
He left Ur with his family and journeyed toward Canaan, settling in Haran.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:24–32
See in the family tree

Places

Haran
Today: Southern Turkey (Upper Mesopotamia)
A caravan city in Upper Mesopotamia and the family's waypoint between Ur and Canaan. Abraham departed from here for Canaan; Jacob later sojourned with Laban nearby.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 28:10
Bible map game · View on OpenStreetMap
Ur
Today: Southern Iraq (near the Euphrates)
Traditionally the southern Sumerian city (Tell el-Muqayyar) with its famous ziggurat, though some scholars argue for a northern Ur (location debated). Abraham set out from here.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:31; Genesis 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7
Bible map game · View on OpenStreetMap

Cross references (23)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

Why does my Bible say something different?

Genesis 5 and 11: why the patriarchs’ ages differ
In the Greek Septuagint most patriarchs in Genesis 5 and 11 become fathers about 100 years later than in the Hebrew text, and Genesis 11 adds a second Cainan, whom St Luke also names (Luke 3:36). The result is a world history over a thousand years longer. The Byzantine calendar was built on the Greek numbers. No doctrine depends on either set.

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

Quotes verse 11:1–9 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XVI, Chapters 3–4)
Therefore the name of it is called Confusion; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and the Lord God scattered them thence on the face of all the earth." This city, which was called Confusion, is the same as Babylon, whose wonderful construction Gentile history also notices.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Quotes verse 11:6 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XVI, Chapters 5–8)
The words, "Nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do," are assuredly not meant as an affirmation, but as an interrogation, such as is used by persons threatening, as e.g., when Dido exclaims, "They will not take arms and pursue?" We are to understand the words as if it had been said, Shall nothing be restrained …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Quotes verse 11:27–29 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XVI, Chapters 12–15)
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." This Iscah is supposed to be the same as Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)

Old Testament

New Testament

People & places in this chapter

People

Places

Why does my Bible say something different?

What the Fathers said