11.1-32

Genesis

The family record detailed in the previous chapter does not affix dates with which we can correlate historical events. Much of that problem is resolved in the Genesis 11 genealogical record of the generations of Shem and Terah. The line of Terah is significant because he is the father of the patriarch Abram (later Abraham, Gen 17:5). Chapter 11 opens with the first significant response God had to man's disobedience post-deluge - their failure to populate the earth was in direct disobedience to God's command in Genesis 9:1 "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." Man was doing the opposite. God's response was to confuse the languages (v7), by making 70 separate languages (Genesis 10 Table of Nations) instead of one. The confusion of languages has continued to spread such that there are now over 7,100 languages spoken in the world. The Biblical record dates the dispersion to the year 2233 BC, most likely the year Nimrod began to rule Assyria (Gen 10:11). This date is not just accurate from Biblical math, but has also been scientifically confirmed by historical astronomy. https://answersresearchjournal.org/tower-of-babel/chronological-framework-ancient-history-2/
With this record, it is appropriate to be in awe of the accuracy with which God lays the foundation for our understanding of all that follows in His Holy Word. We have no need to doubt this record or any of the narrative that follows. God is. His Word testifies to every truth of which we need access.

CHAPTER 11

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had the same language and the same words.
2 And it happened as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar.
4 And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have athe same language. And this is what they have begun to do. So now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s language.”
8 So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth; and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The Generations of Shem

10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
11 and Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
12 And Arpachshad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah;
13 and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
14 And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber;
15 and Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
16 And Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg;
17 and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
18 And Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Reu;
19 and Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Reu, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
20 And Reu lived 32 years and became the father of Serug;
21 and Reu lived 207 years after he became the father of Serug, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
22 And Serug lived 30 years and became the father of Nahor;
23 and Serug lived 200 years after he became the father of Nahor, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived 29 years and became the father of Terah;
25 and Nahor lived 119 years after he became the father of Terah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.
26 And Terah lived 70 years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Generations of Terah

27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.
28 And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to go to the land of Canaan; and they came as far as Haran and settled there.
32 And the days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.