God has renewed his covenant with mankind. But evil still abounds ... and next shows itself on a plain in Shinar (Babylon.)
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
Humankind uses the modern technology (bricks!) to build a tall tower and "make a name" on the plains of Shinar (in Babylonia.) It is not clear if building a tower "that reaches the heavens" is an attempt to reach God in some way or is just a description for a tall tower, like the modern term "skyscrapers". The region of Babylon was home to some of the first ancient cities and this description of "a tower that reaches to the heavens" might describe the ancient ziggurats of Babylon.
"As men moved eastward" is not clear; it could be "from the east" or "in the east."
Genesis 11: 5-9, Babel
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
That is why it was called Babel--because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
The image of God is strange here -- God "comes down", as if He were indeed up in clouds, just above the buildings. God says, "Let us [prevent this]." Is the Hebrew plural?
This passage is describes the frustrating and problematic diversity of languages. The passage parallels Genesis 10:4-5 where a dispersion of "maritime peoples", descendants of Javan, spread out with their own clans and their own languages.
The NIV footnotes say that "Babel" sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
We now have the genealogy of Shem and move quickly, through a "vertical genealogy" to the story of Abram, the next (third) story of Genesis, leading to the third covenant of God with man.
This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
We have reached the next hero, Abram. We follow him now for the next 14 chapters of Genesis.
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