Genesis 11:5-15

5 ¹The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

6 The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have ²the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing * which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

7 "Come, ³let Us go down and there ⁴confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

8 So the LORD ⁵scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

9 Therefore * its name was called ⁶Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Descendants of Shem

10 ⁷These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;

11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five * years, and became the father of Shelah;

13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.

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

15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 11

This chapter gives an account of the inhabitants of the earth before the confusion of tongues at Babel, of their speech and language, which was one and the same, and of the place where they dwelt, Ge 11:1,2 and of their design to build a city and tower, to make them a name and keep them together, which they put in execution, Ge 11:3,4 of the notice the Lord took of this affair, and of the method he took to put a stop to their designs, by confounding their speech, and dispersing them abroad upon the face of the earth, Ge 11:5-9 then follows a genealogy of Shem's posterity down to Abraham, Ge 11:10-26 and a particular relation is given of Terah, the father of Abraham, and his family, and of his going forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, in order to go into the land of Canaan, and of his death at Haran by the way, Ge 11:27-32.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 18:21; Exodus 3:8; Exodus 19:11, 18, 20
• 2. Genesis 11:1
• 3. Genesis 1:26
• 4. Genesis 42:23; Exodus 4:11; Deuteronomy 28:49; Isaiah 33:19; Jeremiah 5:15
• 5. Genesis 11:4; Psalms 92:9; Luke 1:51
• 6. Genesis 10:10
• 7. Genesis 10:22-25

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "one lip"
• [b]. Lit "withheld from"
• [c]. Lit "lip"
• [d]. Lit "lip"
• [e]. Or "Babylon;" cf Heb "balal," confuse
• [f]. Lit "lip"
• [g]. Lit "begot," and so throughout the ch