42 | Genesis 10:30
30 The re gion where they lived stretched from Me sha to ward Se phar , in the east ern hill country .
31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and lan guages , in their ter ri to ries and nations .
32 These are the clans of No ah ’ s sons , s ac cord ing to their lines of de scent , within their na tions . From these the na tions spread out over the earth t af ter the flood .
The Tower of Babel
Now the whole world had one lan guage and a com mon speech . 2 As peo ple moved
11 eastward , a they found a plain in Shi nar b u and set tled there .
3 They said to each other , “ Come , let ’ s make bricks v and bake them thor oughly .” They used brick in stead of stone , and tar w for mor tar . 4 Then they said , “ Come , let us build ourselves a city , with a tower that reaches to the heav ens , x so that we may make a name y for our selves ; other wise we will be scat tered over the face of the whole earth .” z
5 But the Lord came down a to see the city and the tower the peo ple were build ing . 6 The Lord said , “ If as one peo ple speak ing the same lan guage they have be gun to do this , then noth ing they plan to do will be im pos si ble for them . 7 Come , let us b go down and con fuse their lan guage so they will not un der stand each other .” c
8 So the Lord scat tered them from there over all the earth , d and they stopped build ing the city . 9 That is why it was called Ba bel c e — because there the Lord con fused the lan guage of the whole world . From there the Lord scat tered them over the face of the whole earth .
10:32 s ver 1 t Ge 9:19 11:2 u Ge 10:10 11:3 v Ex 1:14 w Ge 14:10
11:4 x Dt 1:28 ; 9:1 y Ge 6:4 z Dt 4:27
11:5 a ver 7 ; Ge 18:21 ; Ex 3:8 ; 19:11 , 18 , 20
11:7 b Ge 1:26 c Ge 42:23
11:8 d Ge 9:19 ; Lk 1:51 11:9 e Ge 10:10 11:12 f Lk 3:35
From Shem to Abram
11:10-27pp — Ge 10:21-31 ; 1Ch 1:17-27
10 This is the ac count of Shem ’ s fam ily line .
Two years af ter the flood , when Shem was 100 years old , he be came the fa ther d of Arphaxad . 11 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Ar phaxad , Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters .
12 When Ar phaxad had lived 35 years , he be came the fa ther of She lah . f 13 And af ter he be came the fa ther of She lah , Ar phaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daugh ters . e
a 2 Or from the east ; or in the east b 2 That is , Babylonia c 9 That is , Babylon ; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for
confused . d 10 Father may mean ancestor ; also in verses 11-25 . e 12,13 Hebrew ; Septuagint ( see also Luke 3:35 , 36 and note at Gen . 10:24 ) 35 years , he became the father of Cainan . 13 And after he became the father of Cainan , Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters , and then he died . When Cainan had lived 130 years , he became the father of Shelah . And after he became the father of Shelah , Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
10:30 Mesha . . . Sephar . Unknown . 10:32 the nations spread out . This does not happen until after the tower of Babel incident ( 11:1 – 9 ), so this verse does not follow chronological order .
11:1 – 9 The Tower of Babel . The people of the earth want to make a name for themselves , even if this means opposing God . God ’ s creation of the many languages of the human race leads them to spread across the earth and give up their defiant plans . 11:2 people moved eastward . In the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent , the waters of the Persian Gulf receded in the fourth millennium BC . There is archaeological evidence that people lived there . People who have not yet “ spread out over the earth ” ( 10:32 ) settle in Shinar ( i . e ., Bab ylon , 10:10 ). They band together for security . 11:3 bake them thoroughly . Mud bricks can simply dry in the heat of the sun , but the strongest ones were fired in kilns . Oven-fired bricks were more expensive and used only for the facades of special buildings . brick instead of stone . Brick is characteristic building material in Mesopotamia , where it is far more abundant than building stone . 11:4 tower . Hebrew migdāl . It usually refers to a fortress and emphasizes security . Here it may be associated with the pyramid-shaped ziggurats that humans in early Mesopotamian cities used to access the divine world of the god they worshiped . In some views , the ziggurat was primarily a staircase for the god ; the temple was near the bottom of the stairs that went up the side of the ziggurat . The city was built to house the ziggurat , the temple , and other buildings for the priests , king , and army . a name . A reputation guaranteeing that one would be honored after death . This account intentionally contrasts with Abram and the “ name ” God promises him ( 12:1 – 3 ) by calling him out from the same urban environment and into a “ backwater ” land with little promise for security and worldly success . Because the people feared being “ scattered ” and were vulnerable , they planned to unite and build a powerful fortress that would allow them to call down their god to protect them and their descendants . 11:5 the Lord came down to see . The builders constructed their tower to the heavens . Ironically , God had to descend to reach them . 11:6 nothing they plan to do will be impossible . It will not be beyond their reach . The tower is a central fortress that opposes God ’ s plans . Cities , though at times blessed by God ( e . g ., Jerusalem ) and centers for the expansion of the gospel ( as in Acts ), can also be evil centers of rebellion against God . 11:7 us . The plural pronoun may reflect the divine court , where decisions are made that overturn the deliberations of any human court , or it may suggest God ’ s self-reflection as a deity far more complex in personhood than other gods ( see note on 1:26 ). confuse . Hebrew n-b-l , a wordplay on “ brick ” ( Hebrew l-b-n ). This does not permanently remove the danger of the city , but it mitigates the threat of a one-world government where no alternative worship is allowed . 11:9 Babel . Bab ylon ( see 10:8 – 10 and notes ). Babel ( Hebrew b-b-l ) is a wordplay on “ confused ” ( Hebrew n-b-l ; see note on v . 7 ). The name “ Babel ” is translated as “ Bab ylon ” everywhere else in the OT . Bab ylon becomes symbolic of human opposition to God and the antithesis of the city that God desires to have constructed for his glory on the earth . 11:10 – 26 From Shem to Abram . This genealogy forms the most direct line in Genesis , with no notes or glosses . It is regular and formulaic , suggesting an interest only in recording the line to show the connection between Shem and Abram . The life spans of these patriarchs before Abram ’ s grandfather remain unusually long , gradually descending from 500 to 200 years . Perhaps this demonstrates the effects of sin on even the best of the human race . See 6:3 and note . 11:10 account . See note on 2:4 . Shem . Means “ name ,” perhaps related to the “ name ” the Babel builders wanted and the “ name ” God promised Abram ( see v . 4 ; 12:2 and notes ).