Genesis 11:1

And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Much of the explanatory matter in the preceding Chapter, as well as the mention of various languages, belongs to a later period of history, being indicated there merely for the sake of offering a complete picture. The story which is now told... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:2

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. From the highlands of the Ararat range the survivors of the Flood and their families moved down, by degrees, in an easterly direction until they reached the great plain where th... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:3

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. Not only Ham and Canaan had meanwhile forsaken the religion of Noah, but other members of his family had likewise turned from the living God to the vanity an... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:4

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Their plans were made with care. Instead of the usual sun-dried brick they proposed to use burnt brick, which would be ab... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:5

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. God could not let this challenge to His almighty government of the world go unanswered. He made arrangements to interfere. For though it was a mighty city which the children of men were building, a city whose dim... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:6

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:7

Go to, let us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. The Lord first sets forth the situation as He found it: Behold, one people they are, one connection, one association, one community, and one speech they all have. These two factors made the pe... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:8

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. That was the consequence of the miracle. A great migration of families and tribes over the whole earth began, by which men were scattered to the four winds. The great project as planned... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:9

Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Babel means confusion, and the result of the confusion of tongues is before our eyes to this day. The human ra... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:10

These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the Flood. The genealogical table of Shem is now repeated in detail, because the narrative gradually tends toward the story of the people of God, whose progenitor was Abraham, a descendant of Shem thr... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:15

and Salah lived, after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. Up to this point the ancestry of the Joktanites and of the Abrahamites follows the same line.... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:25

and Nahor lived, after he begat Terah, an hundred and nineteen years and begat sons and daughters. A careful comparison of this list with the genealogical table of Genesis 5 shows a very decided shortening of the average life of man after the Flood. While Noah still reached the age of 950 years, the... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:26

And Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. That is, the oldest son of Terah was born when he was seventy years old, and three sons are mentioned in this instance, Abram, afterward Abraham, as the father of the Jewish race, Nahor as the grandfather of Rebekah, and Haran as the f... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:27

Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. Haran may have been the oldest son, and his son Lot was nearer to Abraham's age.... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:28

And Haran died before, that is, during the lifetime of, HIS FATHER TERAH IN THE LAND OF HIS NATIVITY, IN UR OF THE CHALDEES. This, then, was the ancestral home of this family of the descendants of Shem.... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:29

And Abram and Nahor took them wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. Marriages of comparatively close relatives were still the rule at that time, for Nahor married his niece, and Abram his... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:30

But Sarai was barren; she had no child, a fact which was, among the Jews, considered a great calamity, almost a curse, just as the fruitfulness of the mother was considered a great blessing.... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:31

And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. These all went forth together, or with one ano... [ Continue Reading ]

Genesis 11:32

And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran. This notice rounds out the story of Terah, for he evidently died after Abram had gone forth to Canaan. Thus the less important personage is disposed of before the main history proceeds. It is the story of Abraham which n... [ Continue Reading ]

Continues after advertising