Insights from Genesis 11: Pride, Division, and Promise.

From United Rebellion to a Chosen Family

Genesis 11 unfolds in two major acts. The first, in verses 1-9, describes a united humanity's ambitious project on the plain of Shinar and God's swift response. The second act, spanning verses 10-32, shifts to a quiet, patient listing of generations, tracing a single family line that will become the focus of the rest of Genesis and the entire Bible.

A Plan Born of Pride  (Genesis 11:1-4)

¹ Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
³ And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

God's Judgment and Mercy  (Genesis 11:5-9)

⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.
⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.
⁸ So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
⁹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

The Lineage of Shem  (Genesis 11:10-26)

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.
¹¹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
¹² And Arpachshad lived five hundred and thirty years after he fathered Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.
¹³ Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.
¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.
¹⁵ Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth,
¹⁶ And Eber lived thirty-four years and fathered Peleg.
¹⁷ So Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
¹⁸ Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu.
¹⁹ These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.
²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years and fathered Serug.
²¹ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he fathered Peleg.
²² Serug lived thirty years and fathered Nahor.
²³ After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
²⁴ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.
²⁵ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.
²⁶ When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Family of Abram  (Genesis 11:27-32)

²⁷ Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
²⁸ And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
²⁹ And Abram and Nahor took wives; 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 Iscah.
³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
³¹ 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 forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
³² The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.