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Genesis 11

The people build the Tower of Babel to make a name for themselves, but God confuses their language and scatters them across the earth. The chapter then traces the genealogy from Shem to Abram, bridging the primeval history to the patriarchal narrative.

GenesisChapter 11 of 5032 versesBerean Standard Bible

In this passage: TerahHaranArpachshadChaldeaUr

Read Genesis 11 and keep notes on it in Doxa's Daily Faith Steps.

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.”

Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 14: Who was Nimrod, the mighty hunter?

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 14: Whose name lasts?

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 17: Why does the line of Shem matter right after Babel?

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 19: Why is the promise so much larger than one man?

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.”

~Type ofActs 2:4

Babel confused languages — at Pentecost each heard in their own language (reversal)

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Read Acts 2:4›
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.

Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 14: Why does God write down the nations?

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 14: Who was Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the LORD?

10

This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 13: Where does the line of Shem lead?

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.

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 15: Who was Joktan, and why list his thirteen sons?

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.

27

This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 14: Why does Genesis record the nations so carefully?

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.

Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 47: What does gathered to his people mean in Hebrew?

How to Hear God’s Voice: A Practical Guide for BelieversScripture is the record of a God who speaks. This guide covers how to hear Him today and keep what He says.

Cross-references for Genesis 11

  • Genesis 11:1Acts 2:6

    “And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language.”

  • Genesis 11:1Zephaniah 3:9

    “For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.”

  • Genesis 11:4Deuteronomy 1:28

    “Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’””

  • Genesis 11:4John 5:44

    “How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

  • Genesis 11:6Psalm 2:1

    “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”

Cross-references from OpenBible.info, licensed CC BY.

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