Genesis 11
Wycliffe Bible
11 Forsooth (all) the land was of one language, and of the same speech. [Forsooth the (whole) earth was of one lip, and of the same words.]
2 And when they went forth from the east, they found a field in the land of Shinar, and they dwelled therein.
3 And one said to his neighbour (And they said to one another), Come ye, and make we tilestones, and bake we those with fire; and they had tile for stones, and pitch, either strong glue, for mortar;
4 and they said, Come ye, and make we to us a city and a tower, whose highness stretch till to (the) heaven(s); and make we solemn our name, before that we be parted into all lands. (and they said, Come ye, and let us make a city, and a tower whose height shall stretch up to the sky; and make we our name well-known, or else we shall soon be parted from each other into all the earth.)
5 Forsooth the Lord came down to see the city, and the tower, which the sons of Adam builded (which the sons of men were building).
6 And he said, Lo! the people is one, and one language is to all, and they have begun to make this; neither they shall cease of their thoughts, till they [ful]fill those in work (and they shall not cease from their thoughts, until they have fulfilled them in deed);
7 therefore come ye, go we down, and shame we there the tongue of them, that each man hear not the voice of his neighbour. (and so come ye, let us go down there, and confuse their tongues, so that each person shall not be able to understand their neighbour’s voice.)
8 And so the Lord separated them from that place into all (the) lands; and they ceased to build the city.
9 And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, for the language of all [the] earth was confounded there; and from thence the Lord scattered them on the face of all countries (and from there the Lord scattered them over all the face of the earth).
10 These be the generations of Shem (These be the descendants of Shem). Shem was an hundred years (old) when he begat Arphaxad, two years after the great flood.
11 And Shem lived after that he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
12 Forsooth Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and (then) begat Salah;
13 and Arphaxad lived after that he begat Salah three hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. (and Arphaxad lived after that he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.)
14 And Salah lived thirty years, and (then) begat Eber;
15 and Salah lived after that he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
16 Soothly Eber lived four and thirty years, and (then) begat Peleg;
17 and Eber lived after that he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
18 Also Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu; (And Peleg lived thirty years, and then begat Reu;)
19 and Peleg lived after that he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and (then) begat Serug;
21 and Reu lived after that he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
22 Soothly Serug lived thirty years, and (then) begat Nahor;
23 and Serug lived after that he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
24 Forsooth Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and (then) begat Terah;
25 and Nahor lived after that he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
26 And Terah lived seventy years, and (then) begat Abram[a], Nahor, and Haran.
27 Soothly these be the generations of Terah (These be the descendants of Terah). Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Forsooth Haran begat Lot;
28 and Haran died before Terah, his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of Chaldees (in Ur of the Chaldeans, later called Babylon).
29 Forsooth Abram and Nahor wedded wives; the name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, (the) father of Milcah, and (also the) father of Iscah. (And Abram and Nahor wedded wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran, who was also the father of Iscah.)
30 Soothly Sarai was barren, and had no children.
31 And so Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram, his son, and led them out of Ur of Chaldees, that they should go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelled there. (And Terah took his son Abram, and Lot, the son of his son Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and led them out from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and lived there.)
32 And the days of Terah were made two hundred years and five, and he was dead in Haran. (And all the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and then he died in Haran.)
Footnotes
- Genesis 11:26 God would later change Abram’s name to Abraham.
Genesis 11
Expanded Bible
The Languages Confused
11 At this time the whole world spoke one language, and everyone used the same words. 2 As people ·moved [migrated] ·from the east [or eastward; 2:8; 4:16], they found a plain in the land of ·Babylonia [L Shinar] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Let’s make bricks and ·bake [burn; fire] them ·to make them hard [thoroughly; C in ancient times builders used mudbrick].” So they used bricks instead of stones, and ·tar [bitumen] instead of mortar. 4 Then they said to each other, “Let’s build a city and a tower for ourselves, whose top will reach high into ·the sky [heaven; C a ziggurat or stepped pyramid at whose top was a temple thought to be in heaven]. We will ·become famous [L make for ourselves a reputation/name]. Then we will not be scattered over all the earth.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the ·people [L sons of man] had built. 6 The Lord said, “Now, these people are ·united [L one], all speaking ·the same [L one] language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. ·They will be able to do anything they want [L Nothing they want to do will be impossible for them]. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language [L there] so they will not be able to understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they ·stopped [ceased] building the city. 9 The place is called Babel [C sounds like the Hebrew word for “confused”] since that is where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. So the Lord caused them to spread out from there over the whole world.
The Story of Shem’s Family
10 This is the ·family history [L book of the generations; 2:4] of Shem [9:18; 10:21–31]. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, his son Arphaxad [10:22] was born. 11 After that, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, his son Shelah [10:24] was born. 13 After that, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah was 30 years old, his son Eber [10:21, 24] was born. 15 After that, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber was 34 years old, his son Peleg [10:25] was born. 17 After that, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg was 30 years old, his son Reu was born. 19 After that, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu was 32 years old, his son Serug was born. 21 After that, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug was 30 years old, his son Nahor was born. 23 After that, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor was 29 years old, his son Terah was born. 25 After that, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran were born.
The Story of Terah’s Family
27 ·This is the family history [L These are the generations; 2:4] of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. 28 While his father, Terah, was still alive, Haran died in Ur [C a major city in southern Mesopotamia] ·in Babylonia [L of the Chaldeans; C Chaldea was another name for Babylon], where he was born. 29 Abram and Nahor both ·married [L took wives]. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai ·was not able to have children [was barren; had no children].
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife) and moved out of Ur of ·Babylonia [L the Chaldeans; 11:28]. They had planned to go to the land of Canaan, but when they reached the city of Haran [C a city in northern Syria], they settled there.
32 Terah lived to be 205 years old, and then he died in Haran.
2001 by Terence P. Noble
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.