1One language in the world. 3The building of Babel interrupted by the confusion of tongues. 10The generations of Shem, 27and of Terah the father of Abram. 31Terah goeth from Ur to Haran, and dieth there.
1AND 1the whole earth was 2of one 3language, and of one speech.
1 All the inhabitants of the earth, before and after the flood, until this division of languages happened.
2 This language is supposed to have been the Hebrew (which has its name of Heber), among other reasons therefore, that the proper names of the first men are of Hebrew origin, as Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, etc.
3 Hebr. lip, and so in the sequel.
2And it came to pass, as 4they journeyed from the 5east, that they found a plain 6in the land of Shinar;a and they dwelt there.
4 This is most to be understood of Ham’s posterity, and their chieftain Nimrod. See above Gen. 10:10.
5 From the place whither they were first gone, when by reason of the great increase and multitude of people, they were driven to enlarge their quarters from mount Ararat, where the ark rested. See Gen. 8:4.
6 Where Babel was situated. See Gen. 10 on verse 10.
a Gen. 10:10.
3And they said one to another, Go to,b let us make 7brick, and 8burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and 9slime had they for morter.
b come now!*
7 Or, strike, prepare brick.
8 Hebr. burn with, or, unto burning, that is, make, or bake hard by much burning.
9 A very rough bituminous matter, cleaving and sticking faster than any pitch, of which there was a great plenty in those parts; see Gen. 14:10. Historians tell us that the walls of Babel were mortared with this matter, and grown in time as hard as iron.
4And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose 10top may reach 11unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of 12the whole earth.
10 Hebr. head.
11 An expression serving for exaggeration and magnifying a thing. See Deut. 1:28; 9:1; Psalm 107:26; Mat. 11:23. This was a most wicked and presumptuous design; as if, in despite of God and all men, they would raise such a framework that would secure them against any power what so ever.
12 Hebr. all the face of the earth; and so verses 8, 9.
5And the LORD 13came down to see the city and the tower, which the 14children of men builded.
13 Spoken of God, infinite and omniscient after the manner of men, and implying, God knew and saw all their presumptuous and wicked purpose, and made it known, that He was ready to punish the same accordingly.
14 See Gen. 6 on verse 2.
6And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and 15now 16nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
15 By this kind of speaking is expressed the wrath of God, and His purpose to prevent their work.
16 Other, there will nothing be cut off to them, or, they will be let in nothing, that is, they are resolved to go through with their business.
7Go to, 17let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not 18understand one another's speech.
17 Compare the first annotation at Gen. 1 on verse 26.
18 Or, hear. The word hearing, is taken for understanding what is said. See Gen. 42:23; Deut. 28:49; 1 Kings 3:9; Jer. 5:15; 1 Cor. 14:2.
819Soc the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
19 What they thought to prevent, came through God’s just judgment unavoidably upon them.
c Deut. 32:8; Acts 17:26.
9Therefore is the name of it 20called 21Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
20 Other, he called, namely, God.
21 See Gen. 10:10. The word signifies confusion, or, mixture, or the confusion is come, or in it is confusion.
10¶Thesedare the generations of Shem: Shem was 22an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
d Gen. 10:22, etc.; 1 Chron. 1:17, etc.
22 Hebr. a son of a hundred year, that is, Shem was an hundred years old. See Gen. 7:6.
11And Shem 23lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
23 That is, he had lived, or he was thus old. See Gen. 5:3.
12And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat 24Salah:
24 Hebr. Schelach.
13And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
14And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
15And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
16And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
17And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
18And Pelege lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
e 1 Chron. 1:25.
19And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
20And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
21And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
22And Serug lived thirty years, and begat 25Nahor:
25 Hebr. Nachor.
23And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
24And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat 26Terah:
26 Hebr. Terach, and Luke 3:34 Thara.
25And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
26And Terah lived seventy years, and 27begat 28Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 That is, he began to beget. See Gen. 5:32.
28 Abram is put in the first place, not as being the oldest, but the most worthy; the like we read before of Shem, Gen. 5:32, and 10:1.
27¶Nowf these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
f Joshua 24:2; 1 Chron. 1:26.
28And Haran died 29before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in 30Ur of the Chaldees.
29 That is, in the lifetime and presence of his father.
30 A city in the country of the Chaldees. See Neh. 9:7; Acts 7:4.
29And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah,g31the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
g Gen. 22:20.
31 Milcah was married to her uncle Nahor, which marriages were not yet expressly forbidden by the laws of those times. Iscah is taken by some for Sarai, Abraham’s wife; others hold that Sarai was not the daughter of Haran, but his own, and both Abram’s and Nahor’s sister by one and the same father, Terah, but not by one mother. Compare Gen. 20:12.
30But Saraih was barren; she had no child.
h Gen. 16:1, 2; 18:11, 12.
31Andi32Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and 33they went forth 34with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto 35Haran, and dwelt there.
i Joshua 24:2; Neh. 9:7; Acts 7:4.
32 Namely, after that he had understood by his son Abram that God had called him to go forth out of his own country, according to the relation made thereof in the twelfth chapter.
33 Namely, Terah and Abram.
34 Namely, with Lot and Sarai.
35 Hebr. Charan, in Acts 7:4 we read (Greek) Charran. A city in Mesopotamia, well known in the histories. See Gen. 24:10; 28:10; 29:4.
32And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.