Genesis 11

Translator Notes

1. 'One language and the same words' (saphah echat udvarim achadim, שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים) — literally 'one lip and one set of words.' Saphah means 'lip' or 'language'; devarim means 'words' or 'things.' The pairing emphasizes both the uniformity of speech sounds and vocabulary. Humanity shares a single mode of communication — a linguistic unity that will be shattered by the end of the chapter.

Translator Notes

1. 'From the east' (miqqedem, מִקֶּדֶם) — or 'eastward.' The preposition min with qedem can mean 'from the east' (they came westward from the east) or 'eastward' (they traveled in an eastern direction). Movement 'eastward' in Genesis typically signifies movement away from God's presence (cf. 3:24; 4:16). The rendering follows 'from the east,' but the directional symbolism is noted.
2. 'The land of Shinar' — Mesopotamia, specifically the alluvial plain of southern Iraq. This is the same region identified in 10:10 as Nimrod's kingdom, including Babel.

Translator Notes

1. 'Come, let us...' (havah nilbenah) — the cohortative 'come, let us' will recur three times in the human speeches (vv. 3, 4) and will be echoed by God's own 'come, let us' in verse 7. The humans plan; God responds with their own language.
2. 'Bricks... bitumen' — the narrator notes the building materials because the Mesopotamian alluvial plain lacks the stone available in Canaan and other regions. The use of fired brick and bitumen (chemar, a naturally occurring asphalt/tar) is historically accurate for Mesopotamian construction. The detail signals a Mesopotamian setting.

Translator Notes

1. 'A tower with its top in the sky' (umigdal verosho vashamayim) — the language echoes ancient Mesopotamian temple towers (ziggurats), which were understood as linking heaven and earth. The phrase 'its top in the sky' is probably not literal but describes the tower's intended height and cosmic significance — a human-built connection between earth and heaven.
2. 'Let us make a name for ourselves' (vena'aseh-lanu shem) — the word shem means both 'name' and 'fame/reputation.' The desire for a 'name' contrasts with the pattern throughout Genesis where God bestows names and identity. Self-made fame replaces God-given purpose. It also creates a wordplay with Shem, Noah's son — whose name means 'Name.'
3. 'Lest we be scattered' (pen-naphuts) — the very thing they fear (scattering) is exactly what God will do to them (v. 8–9). Their attempt to prevent scattering through a centralized monument produces the scattering they sought to avoid. The verb puts ('to scatter') appeared in 10:18 and 10:32 for the spreading of peoples — the natural process God intended is here resisted by human ambition.

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD came down' (vayyered YHWH, וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה) — a masterful narrative irony. The humans built a tower 'with its top in the sky,' reaching up toward God. But God has to 'come down' to see it — it is so small from heaven's perspective that the LORD must descend to inspect it. The tower that was supposed to reach heaven cannot even be seen from heaven.
2. 'The children of man' (benei ha'adam, בְּנֵי הָאָדָם) — literally 'the sons of the human.' The phrase emphasizes their creaturely status — these are merely human beings, not divine. Their ambition exceeds their nature.

Translator Notes

1. God's assessment is not that the tower itself is a threat but that unified human ambition without divine boundaries has unlimited destructive potential. The concern is anthropological, not defensive — God is not threatened by the tower but sees the trajectory of human pride unchecked.
2. 'Nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them' (lo-yibatser mehem kol asher yazmu la'asot) — this is a remarkable divine statement about human capacity. When unified in purpose and language, humanity can accomplish anything it sets out to do. The implication is not that this capacity is inherently good — in a fallen world, unlimited capacity means unlimited potential for evil.

Translator Notes

1. 'Come, let us go down' (havah nerdah) — God echoes the human 'Come, let us' (havah) from verses 3–4. The divine 'let us' mirrors 1:26 ('Let us make man'). The plural may indicate the divine council (heavenly court) or the Trinity, as in the creation narrative.
2. 'Confuse their language' (navlah... sephatam) — the verb balal (בָּלַל, 'to confuse, to mix') provides the etymology for 'Babel' in verse 9. The confusion of language is God's intervention to limit the damage of unified human rebellion. It is a judgment but also a mercy — preventing the full realization of collective human evil.

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD scattered them' (vayyaphets YHWH otam) — the very outcome they feared (v. 4, 'lest we be scattered') is now accomplished by God. Their resistance to scattering ironically caused the scattering. The verb puts ('to scatter') fulfills both God's purpose (filling the earth, 1:28; 9:1) and humanity's fear.
2. 'They stopped building the city' — the tower is not said to be destroyed, only that building ceased. The incomplete project stands as a monument to human ambition interrupted by divine intervention.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Babel' (בָּבֶל) is given a Hebrew etymology from balal (בָּלַל, 'to confuse, to mix'). The actual Akkadian etymology of Babylon (Bab-ili) means 'gate of the god(s).' The Hebrew text deliberately provides an alternative — and polemical — etymology: Babylon is not the 'gate of God' but the place of divine confusion. The city that sought to make a name for itself receives a name meaning 'confusion.'
2. The Babel narrative serves as the bridge between the universal history of chapters 1–11 and the particular history of Abraham beginning in 11:27. After the scattering of the nations, God will choose one man from one family to begin a new work — a particular calling for the sake of the universal.

Translator Notes

1. The fifth toledot formula (cf. 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1). This genealogy traces the line from Shem to Abram, bridging the universal history (chapters 1–11) with the patriarchal narratives (chapters 12–50). The format follows the chapter 5 pattern: age at fathering → remaining years → death.

Translator Notes

1. The lifespans in this genealogy are notably shorter than those in chapter 5 — a post-flood decline. Shem lives 600 years total, compared to the 900+ year lifespans before the flood.

Translator Notes

1. The ages at fathering are significantly younger than in chapter 5, accelerating the generational pace.

Translator Notes

1. The formulaic pattern continues. Notably, this genealogy omits the 'and he died' refrain that characterized chapter 5.

Translator Notes

1. Eber, the ancestor of the Hebrews, appears as the fourth generation from Shem.

Translator Notes

1. The formulaic pattern continues.

Translator Notes

1. Peleg ('division') — cf. 10:25. The line now continues through Peleg rather than Joktan, narrowing toward Abraham.

Translator Notes

1. Eber's total lifespan of 464 years is the longest in this genealogy — notably longer than his ancestors and descendants.

Translator Notes

1. 'Reu' (רְעוּ) may mean 'friend' or 'companion,' from the root r-'-h ('to associate with, to tend, to shepherd').

Translator Notes

1. Peleg's lifespan of 239 years marks a significant decline from the longer-lived patriarchs.

Translator Notes

1. The genealogical formula continues without variation.

Translator Notes

1. The formulaic pattern continues.

Translator Notes

1. 'Nahor' (נָחוֹר) — the same name as Abraham's grandfather. Nahor is also the name of a city in the Harran region (cf. 24:10), suggesting a family connection to upper Mesopotamia.

Translator Notes

1. The formulaic pattern continues.

Translator Notes

1. 'Terah' (תֶּרַח) — Abraham's father. The name's etymology is uncertain. Some have connected it to Hebrew yerach ('moon') or to the Akkadian tiru ('ibex'). The moon-connection is interesting given that both Ur and Harran, the two cities associated with Terah's family, were centers of moon-god worship.

Translator Notes

1. Nahor's total lifespan of 148 years continues the declining trend. The lifespans are approaching the 120-year limit mentioned in 6:3.

Translator Notes

1. Terah's entry breaks the single-son pattern of the genealogy by naming three sons — the same pattern used for Noah's three sons (5:32). This signals a major transition: the genealogical funnel now opens to introduce a new family narrative.
2. 'Abram' (אַבְרָם) — the original form of Abraham's name. It means 'exalted father.' The name will be changed to 'Abraham' (אַבְרָהָם) in 17:5.
3. 'Nahor' — the same name as his grandfather (v. 22). 'Haran' (הָרָן) — not to be confused with the city Harran (חָרָן), which is spelled differently in Hebrew.

Translator Notes

1. The sixth toledot formula. This one introduces the family narrative that will dominate the rest of Genesis. Lot, Haran's son, will become Abram's traveling companion and will feature prominently in chapters 13–14 and 18–19.

Translator Notes

1. 'Died in the presence of his father' (al-penei Terach aviv) — literally 'upon the face of Terah his father,' meaning during Terah's lifetime, before his father. This is the first recorded death of a child before a parent in Genesis — a narrative of grief.
2. 'Ur of the Chaldeans' (Ur Kasdim, אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים) — the ancestral home of Abram's family. Ur was one of the great cities of ancient Sumer in southern Mesopotamia (modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq). The designation 'Chaldeans' (Kasdim) is technically anachronistic for the patriarchal period — the Chaldeans are known from the first millennium BCE — but serves to identify the location for later readers.

Translator Notes

1. 'Sarai' (שָׂרָי) means 'my princess.' Her name will be changed to 'Sarah' (שָׂרָה, 'princess') in 17:15. She is one of the most important women in the biblical narrative.
2. 'Milcah' (מִלְכָּה) means 'queen.' She is Haran's daughter, making her Nahor's niece. 'Iscah' (יִסְכָּה) is mentioned only here; Jewish tradition (Rashi, citing Megillah 14a) identifies her with Sarai/Sarah, though this is uncertain.
3. Nahor marries his niece — a pattern of within-family marriage that will characterize the patriarchal period (cf. Isaac marrying Rebekah, Jacob marrying Leah and Rachel).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Sarai was barren' (vattehi Sarai aqarah, וַתְּהִי שָׂרַי עֲקָרָה) — this statement, placed before the call of Abram, is one of the most consequential sentences in Genesis. The promise of offspring ('I will make of you a great nation,' 12:2) is given to a man whose wife cannot conceive. The tension between promise and barrenness drives the Abraham narrative. Barrenness becomes a recurring motif: Sarah, Rebekah (25:21), Rachel (29:31), and later Hannah (1 Samuel 1:2).
2. The doubling 'barren... she had no child' makes the point emphatic. There is no ambiguity, no hope of a pregnancy in progress. The situation is humanly impossible.

Translator Notes

1. Terah initiates the journey — he is the family patriarch who leads the migration. The intended destination is 'the land of Canaan,' but the family stops at Harran and settles. The journey is incomplete; it will be Abram who completes it under divine calling (12:1–5). Harran (חָרָן, with a different first consonant than Haran the person הָרָן) was a major city in upper Mesopotamia (modern southeastern Turkey), also a center of moon-god worship like Ur.
2. The journey from Ur to Canaan via Harran follows the Fertile Crescent — the natural travel route avoiding the Arabian Desert. This geography is historically plausible for ancient migrations.

Translator Notes

1. Terah dies in Harran, never reaching Canaan. His death marks the end of the primeval/genealogical era and prepares for the new beginning with Abram's call in chapter 12. The narrative structure is clear: one era ends (Terah dies) and a new era begins (God calls Abram). The 'and he died' formula from the genealogy provides closure.
2. A chronological note: if Terah was 70 when he fathered Abram (v. 26) and Abram left Harran at age 75 (12:4), Terah would have been 145, not 205. This suggests either that Abram was not the firstborn (listed first for importance, not birth order), or that Abram left before Terah's death (cf. Acts 7:4). The text places Terah's death before Abram's call for narrative, not chronological, reasons.