King James Version
Genesis 11
32 verses with commentary
The Tower of Babel
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. language: Heb. lip. speech: Heb. words
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**XI.**
(1) **The whole earth.**—That is, *all mankind. *After giving the connection of the various races of the then known world, consisting of Armenia, the regions watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, the Arabian peninsula, the Nile valley, with the districts closely bordering on the Delta, Palestine, the Levant, and the islands of Cyprus, Rhodes, and Crete; with Lud on his journey to Asia Minor...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
Chapter Outline
One language in the world, The building of Babel.(1-4)
The confusion of tongues, The builders of Babel dispersed.(5-9)
The descendants of Shem.(10-26)
Terah, father of Abram, grandfather of Lot, they remove to Haran.(27-32)
**Verses 1-4**
How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolation...
Read full commentary →And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. from: or, eastward
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar;...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **As they journeyed.**—The word literally refers to the pulling up of the tent-pegs, and sets the human family before us as a band of nomads, wandering from place to place, and shifting their tents as their cattle needed fresh pasture.
**From the east.**—So all the versions. Mount Ararat was to the north-west of Shinar, and while so lofty a mountain could not have been the spot where the ark r...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. Unto Shem--**The historian introduces him with marked distinction as "the father of Eber," the ancestor of the Hebrews.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
Chapter Outline
One language in the world, The building of Babel.(1-4)
The confusion of tongues, The builders of Babel dispersed.(5-9)
The descendants of Shem.(10-26)
Terah, father of Abram, grandfather of Lot, they remove to Haran.(27-32)
**Verses 1-4**
How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolation...
Read full commentary →And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. they said: Heb. a man said to his neighbour burn: Heb. burn them to a burning
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick ...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Let us make brick, and burn them throughly.**—Heb., *for a burning. *Bricks in the East usually are simply dried in the sun, and this produces a sufficiently durable building material. It marks a great progress in the arts of civilisation that these nomads had learned that clay when burnt becomes insoluble; and their buildings with “slime,” or native pitch, for cement would be virtually inde...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
Chapter Outline
One language in the world, The building of Babel.(1-4)
The confusion of tongues, The builders of Babel dispersed.(5-9)
The descendants of Shem.(10-26)
Terah, father of Abram, grandfather of Lot, they remove to Haran.(27-32)
**Verses 1-4**
How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolation...
Read full commentary →And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let u...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **A tower, whose top may reach unto heaven.**—The Hebrew is far less hyperbolical: namely, *whose head *(or top) *is in the heavens, *or skies, like the walls of the Canaanite cities (Deuteronomy 1:28). The object of the builders was twofold: first, they wished to have some central beacon which might guide them in their return from their wanderings; and secondly, they had a distinctly ambitiou...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. Aram--**In the general division of the earth, the countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, fell to his descendants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
Chapter Outline
One language in the world, The building of Babel.(1-4)
The confusion of tongues, The builders of Babel dispersed.(5-9)
The descendants of Shem.(10-26)
Terah, father of Abram, grandfather of Lot, they remove to Haran.(27-32)
**Verses 1-4**
How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolation...
Read full commentary →And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgme...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5-7) **The Lord came down.**—The narrative is given in that simple anthropological manner usual in the Book of Genesis, which so clearly sets before us God’s loving care of man, and here and in Genesis 18:21 the equity of Divine justice. For Jehovah is described as a mighty king, who, hearing in His upper and heavenly dwelling of man’s ambitious purpose, determines to go and inspect the work in p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**24. Arphaxad--**The settlement of his posterity was in the extensive valley of Shinar, on the Tigris, towards the southern extremity of Mesopotamia, including the country of Eden and the region on the east side of the river.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-9**
Here is an expression after the manner of men; The Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all he does against sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God; their souls joined not themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God suffered them to go on some way, t...
Read full commentary →And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25. Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided--**After the flood (Ge 11:10-16) the descendants of Noah settled at pleasure and enjoyed the produce of the undivided soil. But according to divine instruction, made probably through Eber, who seems to have been distinguished for piety or a prophetic character, the earth was divided and his son's name, "Peleg," was given in memory of that event (s...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-9**
Here is an expression after the manner of men; The Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all he does against sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God; their souls joined not themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God suffered them to go on some way, t...
Read full commentary →Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-9**
Here is an expression after the manner of men; The Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all he does against sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God; their souls joined not themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God suffered them to go on some way, t...
Read full commentary →So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to b...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **The Lord (Jehovah)** **scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.**—The tendency of men, as the result of a growing diversity of language, was to separate, each tribe holding intercourse only with those who spake their own dialect; and so the Divine purpose of occupying the world was carried into effect, while the project of this am...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-9**
Here is an expression after the manner of men; The Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all he does against sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God; their souls joined not themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God suffered them to go on some way, t...
Read full commentary →Therefore is the name of it called Babel; 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. Babel: that is, Confusion
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all th...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Therefore is the name of it called Babel.**—Babel is, in Aramaic, Bab-el, *the gate of God, *and in Assyrian, Bab-ili (Genesis 10:10). It is strange that any one should have derived the word from Bab-Bel, *the gate of Bel, *for there is no trace that the second *b *was ever doubled; moreover, Bel is for Baal; and though we Westerns omit the strong guttural, because we cannot pronounce it, th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 5-9**
Here is an expression after the manner of men; The Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all he does against sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God; their souls joined not themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God suffered them to go on some way, t...
Read full commentary →The Generations from Shem to Abram
These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**THE TÔLDÔTH SHEM.**
(10-26) **These are the generations of Shem.**—Here also, as in Genesis 5, there is a very considerable divergence between the statements of the Hebrew, the Samaritan, and the Septuagint texts. According to the Hebrew, the total number of years from Shem to the birth of Abram was 390, according to the Samaritan, 1,040, and according to the LXX., 1,270. These larger totals are...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgme...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, G...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**32. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations, &c.--**This division was made in the most orderly manner; and the inspired historian evidently intimates that the sons of Noah were ranged according to their nations, and every nation ranked by its families, so that every nation had its assigned territory, and in every nation the tribes, and in every t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a righteous rem...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 11 Ge 11:1-32. Confusion of Tongues.
1. the whole earth was of one language. The descendants of Noah, united by the strong bond of a common language, had not separated, and notwithstanding the divine command to replenish the earth, were unwilling to separate. The more pious and well-disposed would of course obey the divine will; but a numerous body, seemingly the aggressive horde mentione...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: Peleg: Gr. Phalec
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a righ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. land of Shinar--**The fertile valley watered by the Euphrates and Tigris was chosen as the center of their union and the seat of their power.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God'...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. brick--**There being no stone in that quarter, brick is, and was, the only material used for building, as appears in the mass of ruins which at the Birs Nimroud may have been the very town formed by those ancient rebels. Some of these are sun-dried--others burnt in the kiln and of different colors.
**slime--**bitumen, a mineral pitch, which, when hardened, forms a strong cement, commonly us...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a righteous remn...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. a tower whose top may reach unto heaven--**a common figurative expression for great height (De 1:28; 9:1-6).
**lest we be scattered--**To build a city and a town was no crime; but to do this to defeat the counsels of heaven by attempting to prevent emigration was foolish, wicked, and justly offensive to God.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's ju...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: Serug: Gr. Saruch
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a righte...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. and now nothing will be restrained from them--**an apparent admission that the design was practicable, and would have been executed but for the divine interposition.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's j...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. confound their language--**literally, "their lip"; it was a failure in utterance, occasioning a difference in dialect which was intelligible only to those of the same tribe. Thus easily by God their purpose was defeated, and they were compelled to the dispersion they had combined to prevent. It is only from the Scriptures we learn the true origin of the different nations and languages of the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a righteous re...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment,...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: Terah: Gr. Thara
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a rig...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservatio...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-26**
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram. How little do we know of those that are gone before us in this world, even of those that lived in the...
Read full commentary →Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE TÔLDÔTH TERAH.
(27) **Now these are the generations.**—This *tôldôth, *which extends to Genesis 25:11, is one of the most interesting in the Book of Genesis, as it gives us the history of the patriarch Abraham, in whom God was pleased to lay the foundation of the interme diate dispensation and of the Jewish Church, by whose institutions and psalmists and prophets the light of true religion was...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 27-32**
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their...
Read full commentary →And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judg...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **Haran died before his father.**—Heb., *in the presence of his father. *This is the first recorded instance of a premature death caused by natural decay.
**In Ur of the Chaldees.**—*Ur*-*Casdim. *A flood of light has been thrown upon this town by the translation of the cuneiform inscriptions, and we may regard it as certain that Ur is now represented by the mounds of the city of Mugheir. Whe...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 27-32**
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their...
Read full commentary →And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wif...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **Iscah.**—Not the same as Sarai, for we learn in Genesis 20:12 that she was Abraham’s half-sister—that is, a daughter of Terah by another wife. Nor was she Lot’s wife, as Ewald supposed, for she was his full sister. Marriages between near relatives seem to have been allowed at this time, and were perhaps even common for religious reasons (see Genesis 24:3-4; Genesis 28:1-2), but not marriage...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 27-32**
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their...
Read full commentary →But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But Sarai was barren; she had no child....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of a righteous remnant.<...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 27-32**
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their...
Read full commentary →And Terah 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 they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law,...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **They went forth with them.**—This may possibly mean that they went forth in one body; but the phrase is strange, and the Samaritan, followed by the LXX. and Vulg.,by a slight transposition of the letters reads, “And he (Terah) brought them forth.”
**Haran.**—The Charran of Acts 7:4, that is, Carrhae in North-west Mesopotamia, about twenty geographical miles south-east of Edessa. The name mu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 27-32**
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their...
Read full commentary →And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **The days of Terah.**—See note on Genesis 11:26. According to the Samaritan text, Abram left Haran in the same year as that in which Terah died. Nahor had probably joined Terah about this time, as we find him subsequently settled in Haran (Genesis 24:10); and moreover, Abram is expressly commanded to leave “his kindred and his father’s house,” whereas all those who are mentioned by name as g...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 27-32**
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to remember what was the land of their birth; what was their corrupt and sinful state by nature. Abram's brethren were, Nahor, out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their...
Read full commentary →