1 Also, the land was of one lip, and of the same
languages 2 and when they advanced out of the East, they found a field in the land of Sennaur and they lived in it. 3 And one said to the next: Come let us make bricks and dry them in fire. And they had bricks for stone and bitumen for cement; 4 and they said: Come, let us make a city for ourselves, and a tower, the roof of which will reach to heaven; and let us celebrate ourselves before we are divided in the whole Earth.
5 And God went down, so that he saw the city and the tower, which the sons of Adam were building, 6 and said: Behold the people are one, and one lip for all, and they began to make this, and they will not stop for their knowings, until by the work they complete their work. 7 Come, therefore, let us go down, and confuse their language, so they will not hear every single voice of their neighbors.
8 And the Lord divided them out of that place into all the lands, and they stopped building the city. 9 And for this reason, the name of it was called Babel, for there the lip of the whole Earth was confused and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all regions.
10 These are the generations of Sem: Sem was one-hundred years old when he begat Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11 And Sem lived after he begat Arphaxad, five-hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.
12 In turn Arphaxad lived three-hundred fifteen years, and he begat Sale. 13 And Arphaxad lived, after he begat Sale, three-hundred and three years; and he begat sons and daughters.
14 Sale also lived three-hundred years, and he begat Heber. 15 And Sale lived after he begat Heber, four-hundred and three years; and he begat sons and daughters.
16 Moreover Heber lived thirty-four years, and he begat Phaleg. 17 And Heber lived after he begat Phaleg, four-hundred and thirty years; and he begat sons and daughters.
18 Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begat Reu. 19 And Phaleg lived after he begat Reu, two-hundred and nine years; and he begat sons and daughters.
20 Moreover Reu lived thirty-two years, and begat Sarug. 21 Reu also lived after he begat Sarug, two-hundred and seven years, and he begat sons and daughters.
22 But Sarug lived thirty year, and begat Nachor. 23 And Sarug lived after he begat Nachor, two-hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
24 Moreover Nachor lived twenty-nine years, and begat Thare. 25 And Nachor lived after he begat Thare, two-hundred and nineteen years and begat sons and daughters.
26 And Thare lived seventy years and begat Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.
27 These are the generations of Thare. Thare begat Abram, Nachor and Aran. Aran in turn begat Lot. 28 Aram had died before Thane his father in the land of his birth in Ur of the Chaldæans. 29 Moreover Abram and Nachor took wives: the name of the wife of Abram, Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nachor, Melcha, the daughter of Aram, the father of Melcha and the father of Jescha. 30 Moreover, Sarai was sterile, she did not have children.
31 Therefore, Thane took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Aram, the son of his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and led them out from Ur of the Chaldæans, so they went into the land of Chanaan, and the came up to Haran and dwelled there. 32 And the days of Thare were two-hundred and fifty years, and he died in Haran.
Linguistic Notes
I left in vv. 1, 6 and 9, Jerome’s literal translation of the Hebrew idiom for language where, rather than writing tongue, they use the word for lip instead. It’s interesting that while Jerome was somewhat free in his translation in other places (his rotating among various options for translating the ו-connective being the most notable), here he was literal when a non-literal translation would be more sensible.
The other interesting thing (to me at least), was learning the idiom duco uxorem which is literally, lead a wife, but here I translate as take a wife (v. 29). I’d note that the original Hebrew verb here, יקח, translates as took as does the Greek verb in the same place λαμβάνω.¹
Theological Notes
The Tower of Babel feels like well-worn ground to me. The thing I found most interesting was noting that Nachor, the father of Lot, took his niece as his wife. It’s worth noting that the Mosaic law with its prohibitions on consanguineous marriages was not yet in effect at this point, so I guess it was fine (we’ll see another such instance coming up soon in the next chapter or so when we get to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah).
- I hadn’t really thought about the English idiom, to take a wife, before, but looking at other translations of λαμβάνω and יקח both verbs have alternative meanings of to seize or grasp and it occured to me that the idiom is rather violent in its language. Maybe duco is a better verb to refer to marriage in the grand scheme of things.