Genesis 11 Literal Standard Version

About LSV

Protestant
OT: Masoretic Hebrew
NT: Majority (Byzantine) text
Protestant (66 books)
Very literal
2020
CC BY-SA 4.0

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

LSV Literal Standard Version

WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)

1 And the whole earth is of one language, and of the same words,

1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

2 and it comes to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar and dwell there;

2 As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.

3 and they each say to his neighbor, “Give help, let us make bricks, and burn [them] thoroughly”: and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen has been to them for 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 And they say, “Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower with its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we 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 And YHWH comes down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have built;

5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

6 and YHWH says, “Behold, the people [is] one, and one language [is] to them all, and this it has dreamed of doing; and now, nothing is restrained from them of that which they have purposed to do.

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 Give help, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that a man will not understand the language of his companion.”

7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 And YHWH scatters them from there over the face of all the earth, and they cease to build the city;

8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.

9 therefore [one] has called its name Babel, for there YHWH has confused the language of all the earth, and from there YHWH has 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 ◆ These [are] the generations of Shem: Shem [is] a son of one hundred years, and begets Arphaxad two years after the flood.

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 Shem lives after his begetting Arphaxad five hundred years, and begets 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 ◆ And Arphaxad has lived thirty-five years [[or one hundred and thirty-five years]], and begets Salah.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah.

13 ◆ And Arphaxad lives after his begetting Salah four hundred and three years [[or four hundred and thirty years]], and begets 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 ◆ And Salah has lived thirty years [[or one hundred and thirty years]], and begets Eber.

14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber.

15 ◆ And Salah lives after his begetting Eber four hundred and three years [[or three hundred and thirty years]], and begets 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 ◆ And Eber lives thirty-four years [[or one hundred and thirty-four years]], and begets Peleg.

16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg.

17 ◆ And Eber lives after his begetting Peleg four hundred and thirty years [[or three hundred and seventy years]], and begets 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 ◆ And Peleg lives thirty years [[or one hundred and thirty years]], and begets Reu.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu.

19 ◆ And Peleg lives after his begetting Reu two hundred and nine years, and begets 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 ◆ And Reu lives thirty-two years [[or one hundred and thirty-two years]], and begets Serug.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.

21 ◆ And Reu lives after his begetting Serug two hundred and seven years, and begets 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 ◆ And Serug lives thirty years [[or one hundred and thirty years]], and begets Nahor.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor.

23 ◆ And Serug lives after his begetting Nahor two hundred years, and begets 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 ◆ And Nahor lives twenty-nine years [[or seventy-nine years]], and begets Terah.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah.

25 ◆ And Nahor lives after his begetting Terah one hundred and nineteen years [[or one hundred and twenty-nine years]], and begets 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 ◆ And Terah lives seventy years, and begets Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 And these [are] the generations of Terah: Terah has begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran has begotten 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 and Haran dies in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.

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 take to themselves wives; the name of Abram’s wife [is] Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife [is] Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of 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 And Sarai is barren—she has no child.

30 Sarai was barren. She had no child.

31 And Terah takes his son Abram, and Lot, son of Haran, his son’s son, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, wife of his son Abram, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go toward the land of Canaan; and they come to Haran, and dwell 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 And the days of Terah are two hundred and five years, and Terah dies 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
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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
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)