Genesis 11

KJ3 Literal Translation — Chapter 11 of 50

1 And the whole earth was of one lip and of one speech.

2 And it happened, as they pulled up stakes from the east, they found a level valley in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.

3 And man said to his neighbor, Come, let us make brick, and burning burn them. And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

Read full chapter in the Bible Reader

Chapter Summary

One language in the world. 3 The building of Babel. S The confusion of tongues. 10 The generations of Shem.

Key Hebrew Words

שָׂפָה lip, language H8193 · TWOT 2278a
בָּלַל confuse H1101 · TWOT 248
מִגְדָּל tower H4026 · TWOT 315f
פָּצַץ scatter, disperse H6327 · TWOT 1800
שֵׁם name H8034 · TWOT 2405
עָקָר barren H6135 · TWOT 1682a

People & Context

Jehovah

Comes down to see the city and tower, confuses the one language, and scatters mankind over the earth

Terah

Descendant of Shem; father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran who sets out from Ur toward Canaan and dies in Haran

Abram

Son of Terah whose wife is Sarai; leaves Ur with the family toward Canaan

Sarai

Wife of Abram, noted here as barren with no child

Haran

Son of Terah and father of Lot, who dies in Ur of the Chaldeans before his father

Nahor

Son of Terah who takes Milcah, daughter of Haran, as his wife

Timeline

One Language and the Tower of Babel

The whole earth has one language and speech. People settling in Shinar decide to build a city and a tower reaching to the heavens to make a name for themselves and avoid scattering.

Genesis 11:1-4
Confusion of Tongues and Dispersion

God observes their unified effort and decides to confuse their language so they cannot understand each other. Jehovah then disperses them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stop building the city. The city is named Babel because their language was confused there.

Genesis 11:5-9
Genealogy of Shem to Terah

The generations of Shem are listed, tracing the lineage through Arpachshad, Salah, Eber (from whom the 'Hebrews' are named, as the earth was divided in his days with his brother Peleg), Reu, Serug, Nahor, to Terah. Terah fathers Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Genesis 11:10-27

Read Genesis 11 in the KJ3 Reader

Word-for-word literal translation with Hebrew interlinear, Strong's numbers, and audio.

Open in Bible Reader
Genesis 10GenesisGenesis 12