Genesis 11:10-32

From Shem to Abram

10 These are the family records of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the deluge.
11 After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
12 Arpachshad lived 35 years[a] and fathered Shelah.
13 After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
14 Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber.
15 After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg.
17 After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu.
19 After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug.
21 After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor.
23 After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.
25 After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters.
26 Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot.
28 Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah's lifetime.
29 Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram's wife was named Sarai, and Nahor's wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.

Genesis 11:10-32 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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. LXX reads years and fathered Cainan. 13 After he fathered Cainan, Arphachshad lived 430 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters, and he died. Cainan lived 130 years and fathered Shelah. After he fathered Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and fathered [other] sons and daughters, and he died; Gn 10:24; Lk 3:35-36
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