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Genesis · Revised Version with Apocrypha

Genesis 11 Revised Version with Apocrypha

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About RV
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant, with the Apocrypha
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1895
  • Public domain

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

1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And 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. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore was 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. 10◆ These are the generations of Shem. Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood: 11◆ and Shem lived after he begat Arpachshad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 12◆ And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begat Shelah: 13◆ and Arpachshad lived after he begat Shelah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 14◆ And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15◆ and Shelah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 16◆ And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 17◆ and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. 18◆ And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 19◆ and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 20◆ And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 21◆ and Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. 22◆ And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23◆ and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 24◆ And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 25◆ and Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. 26◆ And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28 And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29 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. 30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And 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 Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and 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

  • 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

  • Haran

    Father of Lot

    Abraham's brother who died young in Ur, leaving his son Lot.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:26–31

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Nahor

    Abraham's grandfather

    The grandfather of Abraham, standing just before Terah in the line.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:22–25

  • 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

  • Peleg

    Son of Eber

    In his days, Scripture says, the earth was divided.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 10:25; 11:16–19

  • Reu

    Son of Peleg

    A link in the generations descending toward Abraham.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:18–21

  • Serug

    Son of Reu

    Great-grandfather of Abraham in the line from Shem.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:20–23

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

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

  • 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

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)