Genesis 11:5-15

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of the man built.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people are one, and they all have one language; and they begin to do this, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.

7 Now, 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 there upon the face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore the name of it was called Babel because there the LORD confounded the language of all the earth, and from there the LORD scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years and begat sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years and begat Salah;

13 and Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters.

14 And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber;

15 and Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years and begat 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.