Genesis 11

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. 2 And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled 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. 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.” 5 Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. 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. 7 Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will 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. 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. Genealogy from Shem to Abram (1 Chronicles 1:17–27) 10 This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. 11 And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he 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. 14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he 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. 16 When Eber was 34 years old, he 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. 18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he 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. 20 When Reu was 32 years old, he 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. 22 When Serug was 30 years old, he 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. 24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he 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. 26 When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Terah’s Descendants 27 This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 During his father Terah ’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 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. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children. 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. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Genesis 11 narrates the episode of a unified humanity building a city and tower in Shinar, whose language Yahweh confuses and whose people he scatters (vv.1–9), followed by the genealogical line from Shem to Terah, ending with the family of Abram, the death of Haran, and Terah's migration toward Canaan that stops in Haran (vv.10–32). ## Key words - *safah* ("language", H8193K) — literally "lip"; used in v.1 with *'echat* ("one", H0259) to describe linguistic unity, and again in v.7,9 for its confusion. - *nilbenah* ("let us make bricks", H3835B) — qal cohortative-form infinitive expressing collective self-exhortation ("come, let us..."). - *shem* ("name", H8034) — the goal in v.4 ("let us make a name for ourselves") contrasts with *Shem* the person (H8035) heading the genealogy in v.10, a wordplay visible only in the consonantal text. - *yered* ("he came down", H3381, from H3381) — qal narrative verb describing Yahweh's action in v.5, repeated as *nEredah* ("let us go down", H3381) in v.7 — same root used for both divine descents. - *balal* ("he confused", H1101A) — qal perfect verb in v.9 that the text uses to explain the name *Bavel* ("Babel", H0894) through sound-resemblance, not through etymological derivation from a Semitic root meaning "gate of god." ## What the text says The narrative opens with *va-yehi* ("and it was", H1961), the standard narrative-vav formula, establishing a single *safah 'echat* ("one language", H8193K/H0259) and *devarim 'achadim* ("the same words", H1697G/H0259) for "all the earth" (*khol ha'aretz*, H3605/H0776G). The plan in vv.3–4 is expressed through paired cohortative-style forms introduced by *havah* ("give!", H3051) plus paragogic *he* — *nilbenah* ("let us make bricks"), *nivneh* ("let us build", H1129), *na'aseh* ("let us make", H6213H) — a rhetorical pattern of collective resolve. The stated purpose clause uses *pen* ("lest", H6435) plus *nafutz* ("we should be scattered", H6327A), showing the builders' explicit fear of dispersal — the very outcome the narrative then reports as Yahweh's response. Verses 5–9 present Yahweh's actions with the same root used earlier for human intention: *yered* ("he came down") mirrors the builders' proposed *neredah* ("let us go down") in v.7, a formal echo in the Hebrew not obvious in translation. The etiology of *Bavel* (H0894) in v.9 is built on paronomasia with *balal* (H1101A, "to confuse"), a sound-based wordplay rather than a semantic derivation. The remainder of the chapter (vv.10–32) shifts to a genealogical *toledot* ("accounts of", H8435) formula, using a repetitive verbal pattern — *va-yechi* ("he lived") ... *va-yoled* ("he fathered") — to structure ten generations from Shem to Terah, each entry giving age at fathering, remaining lifespan, and the notice of "sons and daughters" (*banim u-vanot*, H1121A/H1323G). ## Differences between versions The LXX inserts an additional generation, *Kainan* (Καινάν), between Arphaxad and Shelah in v.13, not present in the Hebrew (TAHOT) or the Vulgate, altering the numerical chain of that section. In v.9, the LXX renders the place-name as Σύγχυσις ("Confusion"), translating the meaning behind *Bavel* rather than transliterating the name as the Hebrew and Vulgate (*Babel*) do.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.