Chapter 11

The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Sem down to Abram.

11:1. And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

11:2. And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

11:3. And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar:

11:4. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

11:6. And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

11:7. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another's speech.

11:8. And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.

11:9. And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

Babel... That is, confusion.

11:10. These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

11:11. And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:12. And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale.

11:13. And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:14. Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber.

11:15. And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:16. And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

11:17. And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.

11:18. Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

11:19. And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:20. And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

11:21. And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:22. And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

11:23. And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:24. And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare.

11:25. And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

11:26. And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

11:27. And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot.

11:28. And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

11:29. And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha and father of Jescha.

11:30. And Sarai was barren, and had no children.

11:31. And Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

11:32. And the days of Thare were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

Genesis