A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 11
Genesis 11 is the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis and contains two distinct sections: the Tower of Babel and the genealogy that leads from Shem to Abram. The 32-verse chapter closes the prologue of the book and brings the narrative to the family of Abram, the central figure of the rest of Genesis.
The chapter opens with the whole world speaking one language and a common form of speech. As people journey eastward, they settle in a plain in the land of Shinar. They say to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." Then they say, "Come, 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."
The LORD comes down to see the city and the tower. He says, "If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them." He then says, "Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech." The LORD scatters them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stop building the city. The place is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world.
The chapter then turns to a tighter genealogy than Genesis 5. It traces ten generations from Shem to Terah, recording each father, the age at which his son is born, the years he lives afterward, and his total lifespan. Lifespans drop steadily across the list, from Shem's 600 years down to Nahor's 148.
The chapter closes by introducing Terah's family. Terah has three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran fathers Lot and dies in Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram marries Sarai, who is barren. Terah takes Abram, Sarai, and Lot, and sets out from Ur for the land of Canaan, but they settle in Haran along the way. Terah dies in Haran at 205, and the next chapter opens with the call of Abram.
Verse 1. Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.
Verse 2. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
Verse 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.
Verse 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.”
Verse 5. Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.
Verse 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.
Verse 7. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
Verse 8. So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
Verse 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.
Verse 10. This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
Verse 11. And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 12. When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah.
Verse 13. And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 14. When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber.
Verse 15. And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 16. When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg.
Verse 17. And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 18. When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu.
Verse 19. And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 20. When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug.
Verse 21. And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 22. When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor.
Verse 23. And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 24. When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah.
Verse 25. And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
Verse 26. When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Verse 27. This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
Verse 28. During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Verse 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.
Verse 30. But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
Verse 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.
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