How does Genesis 11 move from one people to Abram’s family?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The shared building plan at Babel ends when the Lord confuses the people’s speech and scatters them. The chapter then follows Sem’s family to Thare and Abram, ending with their move from Ur to Haran.

Chapter breakdown

Everyone on earth spoke the same language. When the people moved from the east, they found a plain in Sennaar and settled there. They urged one another to make bricks and bake them in fire. They used brick in place of stone and slime in place of mortar.

The people proposed a city and a tower whose top might reach heaven. They wanted to make their name famous before they were scattered across all lands. The Lord came down to see the city and tower that the children of Adam were building. He said that they were one people with one language: having begun this work, they would not leave their plans unfinished.

The Lord said to go down and confuse their language so that they could not understand one another. He scattered them from that place into all lands, and they stopped building the city. It was called Babel because the language of the whole earth was confused there, and the Lord scattered the people across all countries. Challoner’s note explains the name Babel as “confusion.”

The family record begins with Sem. He was 100 when Arphaxad was born, two years after the flood. Sem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters. Arphaxad was 35 when Sale was born. He lived another 303 years and had other sons and daughters.

Sale was 30 when Heber was born. He lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. Heber was 34 when Phaleg was born. He lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

Phaleg was 30 when Reu was born. He lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters. Reu was 32 when Sarug was born. He lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

Sarug was 30 when Nachor was born. He lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters. Nachor was 29 when Thare was born. He lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

The record says that Thare lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nachor, and Aran. It then names these three sons again and identifies Aran as Lot’s father. Aran died before his father Thare, in Ur of the Chaldees, the land of his birth. Abram married Sarai, and Nachor married Melcha. Melcha was a daughter of Aran, who was also Jescha’s father. Sarai could not have children and had none.

Thare took his son Abram, his grandson Lot—the son of Aran—and his daughter-in-law Sarai, Abram’s wife, out of Ur of the Chaldees. They set out for the land of Chanaan, but reached Haran and lived there. Thare died in Haran at the age of 205.

The story inside

The builders begin with a shared language and a shared plan. Each person can urge a neighbour to make bricks, and together they propose a city and tower that will make their name famous before they are scattered. The Lord’s response changes the condition that made their work together possible: they can no longer understand one another. The stated result is that they stop building the city and are scattered into all lands. That ending reverses their stated aim of establishing a famous name before scattering. The next part of the chapter changes scale, following a named family from Sem to Thare rather than describing all people together. It ends with a destination that the family intended to reach, Chanaan, and the place they actually reached, Haran. Both parts distinguish a proposed destination or outcome from what the account says happened. The text does not give a reason for Thare’s decision to settle in Haran.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Shared speech helps explain the building project’s course. The people can plan and urge one another to work; the Lord then confuses their speech so that they cannot understand each other. The account connects this change with the end of the city’s construction and their scattering. Keeping that sequence clear explains the event without adding a tower collapse or invented motives.
2
The family record is more than a list of names. It gives each father’s age at the named child’s birth, his remaining years, and his other sons and daughters. Those details connect Sem to Thare and Abram. Preserving the separate numbers matters: they do not support a claim that every successive lifespan became shorter.
3
The closing family details prepare the reader to follow Abram. They identify Lot’s father, both marriages, Jescha, and Sarai’s lack of children. They also distinguish Chanaan, the intended destination, from Haran, where the family lived and Thare died. These are the chapter’s stated relationships and circumstances; later events need not be added to explain them here.

Test your recall

How does the change in the people’s speech affect their building work and where they live?

Show answer

God confuses their language so that they cannot understand one another. They stop building the city, and God scatters them into different lands. This reverses their plan to make a famous name and avoid being scattered.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 1233–1245
Genesis Chapter 11 The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Sem down to Abram. 11:1. And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech. 11:2. And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it. 11:3. And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar:
Lines 1247–1256
11:4. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands. 11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building. 11:6. And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.
Lines 1258–1268
11:7. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 11:8. And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city. 11:9. And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries. Babel.... That is, confusion.
Lines 1270–1279
11:10. These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11. And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 11:12. And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale. 11:13. And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
Lines 1281–1289
11:14. Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber. 11:15. And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years: and begot sons and daughters. 11:16. And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg. 11:17. And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.
Lines 1291–1299
11:18. Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu. 11:19. And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. 11:20. And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug. 11:21. And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
Lines 1301–1309
11:22. And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor. 11:23. And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 11:24. And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare. 11:25. And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
Lines 1311–1324
11:26. And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran. 11:27. And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot. 11:28. And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees. 11:29. And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor’s wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha and father of Jescha. 11:30. And Sarai was barren, and had no children.
Lines 1326–1334
11:31. And Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there. 11:32. And the days of Thare were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.