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Genesis · Berean Standard Bible

Genesis 11 Berean Standard Bible

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  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant (66 books)
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  • 2022
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Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

BSB Berean Standard Bible
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.
1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.
2 And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
2 As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
4 “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
4 They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”
5 Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.
5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.
6 And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.
6 Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.
7 Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.
9 That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
10◆ This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
10 This is the history of the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.
11◆ And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
11 Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
12◆ When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah.
12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah.
13◆ And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
13 Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
14◆ When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber.
14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber.
15◆ And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
15 Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
16◆ When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg.
17◆ And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
17 Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
18◆ When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu.
19◆ And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
19 Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
20◆ When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.
21◆ And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
21 Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
22◆ When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor.
23◆ And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
23 Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
24◆ When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah.
25◆ And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
25 Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.
26◆ When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
27 Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot.
28 During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees, while his father Terah was still alive.
29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
29 Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
30 Sarai was barren. She had no child.
31 And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.
31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

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.

  1. 1 Acts 2:6; Zephaniah 3:9; Isaiah 19:18
  2. 2 Daniel 1:2; Genesis 10:10; Genesis 14:1; Isaiah 11:11; Zechariah 5:11
  3. 3 Genesis 14:10; Exodus 1:14; Exodus 2:3; James 5:1; Hebrews 10:24
  4. 4 Deuteronomy 1:28; John 5:44; Luke 1:51; Deuteronomy 9:1; Daniel 4:30
  5. 5 Psalm 33:13–14; Genesis 18:21; John 3:13; Hebrews 4:13; Jeremiah 23:23–24
  6. 6 Psalm 2:1–4; Genesis 3:22; Genesis 11:1; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Luke 1:51
  7. 7 Psalm 33:10; Job 5:12–13; Genesis 1:26; Psalm 55:9; 1 Corinthians 14:2–11
  8. 8 Luke 1:51; Genesis 10:32; Genesis 10:25; Deuteronomy 32:8; Genesis 11:4
  9. 9 Genesis 10:10; Genesis 10:5; Acts 17:26; Genesis 10:20; 1 Corinthians 14:23
  10. 10 1 Chronicles 1:17–27; Luke 3:34–36; Genesis 11:27; Genesis 10:21–22
  11. 11 Genesis 9:7; Psalm 144:12; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 5:4–32; Psalm 127:3–4
  12. 12 Luke 3:36
  13. 16 Luke 3:35; Numbers 24:24; Genesis 10:21; 1 Chronicles 1:19; Genesis 10:25
  14. 18 Luke 3:35
  15. 20 Luke 3:35
  16. 22 Joshua 24:2
  17. 24 Luke 3:34; Joshua 24:2
  18. 26 Joshua 24:2; Genesis 12:4–5; 1 Chronicles 1:26–27; Genesis 22:20–24; Genesis 29:4–5
  19. 27 Genesis 14:12; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 11:31; 2 Peter 2:7; Genesis 13:1–11
  20. 28 Genesis 15:7; Genesis 11:31; Acts 7:2–4; Nehemiah 9:7
  21. 29 Genesis 17:15; Genesis 22:20; Genesis 24:15; Genesis 20:12
  22. 30 Judges 13:2; Genesis 25:21; 1 Samuel 1:2; Luke 1:7; Luke 1:36
  23. 31 Nehemiah 9:7; Acts 7:2–4; Genesis 12:4; Joshua 24:2–3; Genesis 15:7

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?

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).

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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)