Genesis 11

Gn 11.1Erat autem terra labiī ūnīus, et sermōnum eōrumdem.

Now the earth was of a single lip, and of the same words.

Note. terra labiī ūnīus: 'the earth was of one lip', a genitive of description; labium (lip) stands for language, a Hebrew idiom. eōrumdem: genitive plural of īdem.

Gn 11.2Cumque proficīscerentur dē oriente, invēnērunt campum in terrā Sennaar, et habitāvērunt in eō.

And when they were setting out from the east, they found a level plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt in it.

Note. Cumque proficīscerentur dē oriente: cum + imperfect subjunctive, 'as they were setting out from the east'. campus in terrā Sennaar: the plain of Babylonia, where the next verses describe brick building.

Gn 11.3Dīxitque alter ad proximum suum: Venīte, faciāmus laterēs, et coquāmus eōs ignī. Habuēruntque laterēs prō saxīs, et bitūmen prō caementō:

And each said to his neighbour: Come, let us make bricks, and let us bake them with fire. And they had bricks in place of stones, and pitch in place of building-stone:

Note. Venīte, faciāmus … coquāmus: an imperative followed by hortatory subjunctives, 'come, let us make … let us bake'. In Mesopotamia, without building stone, people used baked mud brick and natural bitumen as mortar.

Gn 11.4et dīxērunt: Venīte, faciāmus nōbīs cīvitātem et turrim, cuius culmen pertingat ad caelum: et celebrēmus nōmen nostrum antequam dīvidāmur in ūniversās terrās.

and they said: Come, let us make for ourselves a city and a tower, whose summit may reach up to the sky: and let us make our name famous before we are divided into all the lands.

Note. cuius culmen pertingat ad caelum: a relative clause of purpose (subjunctive), 'whose top is to reach the sky'. The tower is usually connected with the stepped temple-towers (ziggurats) of Babylonian cities. antequam dīvidāmur: 'before we are scattered', subjunctive because the event is feared and not yet real.

Gn 11.5Dēscendit autem Dominus ut vidēret cīvitātem et turrim, quam aedificābant fīliī Adam,

Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam were building,

Note. ut vidēret: purpose clause. The picture of God 'coming down' to look at the tower is ironic: the tower meant to reach heaven is so small that God has to come down to see it.

Gn 11.6et dīxit: Ecce, ūnus est populus, et ūnum labium omnibus: coepēruntque hoc facere, nec dēsistent ā cōgitātiōnibus suīs, dōnec eās opere compleant.

and he said: Look, one is the people, and one lip to all: and they have begun to do this, nor will they leave off from their thoughts until they complete them in work.

Note. nec dēsistent … dōnec … compleant: 'nor will they leave off until they complete them'; dōnec with the subjunctive expresses an expected outcome.

Gn 11.7Venīte igitur, dēscendāmus, et cōnfundāmus ibi linguam eōrum, ut nōn audiat ūnusquisque vōcem proximī suī.

Come therefore, let us go down and mix up there their tongue, so that each one may not hear the voice of his neighbour.

Note. Venīte … dēscendāmus et cōnfundāmus: God speaks in the plural, echoing the builders' own 'come, let us' in verses 63–64. ut nōn audiat: in Biblical Latin, audiō can mean 'understand'.

Gn 11.8Atque ita dīvīsit eōs Dominus ex illō locō in ūniversās terrās, et cessāvērunt aedificāre cīvitātem.

And so the Lord divided them from that place into all the lands, and they ceased to build the city.

Gn 11.9Et idcircō vocātum est nōmen eius Babel, quia ibi cōnfūsum est labium ūniversae terrae: et inde dispersit eōs Dominus super faciem cūnctārum regiōnum.

And for that reason its name was called Babel, because there the lip of the whole earth was mixed up: and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of all the regions.

Note. Babel: the Hebrew name of Babylon. The text explains it by a play on the Hebrew verb bālal, 'to confuse', which the Latin renders cōnfūsum est.

Gn 11.10Hae sunt generātiōnēs Sem: Sem erat centum annōrum quandō genuit Arphaxad, bienniō post dīluvium.

These are the generations of Shem: Shem was of a hundred years when he begot Arpachshad, in the second year after the deluge.

Note. Hae sunt generātiōnēs Sem: a second, narrower genealogy that leads in a straight line from Shem to Abram. centum annōrum: genitive of description, 'a hundred years old'. bienniō post dīluvium: 'two years after the flood', an ablative of measure of difference.

Gn 11.11Vīxitque Sem, postquam genuit Arphaxad, quīngentīs annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Shem lived, after he begot Arpachshad, five hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Note. Each entry from here to verse 85 follows the same pattern: vīxit X annīs et genuit Y; vīxitque X, postquam genuit Y, … annīs, et genuit fīliōs et fīliās. The lifespans become steadily shorter than those before the flood.

Gn 11.12Porrō Arphaxad vīxit trīgintā quīnque annīs, et genuit Sale.

Further, Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and begot Shelah.

Gn 11.13Vīxitque Arphaxad, postquam genuit Sale, trecentīs tribus annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Arpachshad lived, after he begot Shelah, three hundred three years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Gn 11.14Sale quoque vīxit trīgintā annīs, et genuit Heber.

Shelah also lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

Gn 11.15Vīxitque Sale, postquam genuit Heber, quadringentīs tribus annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Shelah lived, after he begot Eber, four hundred three years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Gn 11.16Vīxit autem Heber trīgintā quatuor annīs, et genuit Phaleg.

Eber, moreover, lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.

Note. quatuor: the Vulgate's spelling of quattuor.

Gn 11.17Et vīxit Heber postquam genuit Phaleg, quadringentīs trīgintā annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Eber lived, after he begot Peleg, four hundred thirty years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Gn 11.18Vīxit quoque Phaleg trīgintā annīs, et genuit Reu.

Peleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

Gn 11.19Vīxitque Phaleg, postquam genuit Reu, ducentīs novem annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Peleg lived, after he begot Reu, two hundred nine years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Gn 11.20Vīxit autem Reu trīgintā duōbus annīs, et genuit Sarug.

Reu, moreover, lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.

Gn 11.21Vīxit quoque Reu, postquam genuit Sarug, ducentīs septem annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

Reu also lived, after he begot Serug, two hundred seven years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Gn 11.22Vīxit vērō Sarug trīgintā annīs, et genuit Nachor.

Serug, indeed, lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

Gn 11.23Vīxitque Sarug, postquam genuit Nachor, ducentīs annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Serug lived, after he begot Nahor, two hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Gn 11.24Vīxit autem Nachor vīgintī novem annīs, et genuit Thare.

Nahor, moreover, lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.

Gn 11.25Vīxitque Nachor, postquam genuit Thare, centum decem et novem annīs: et genuit fīliōs et fīliās.

And Nahor lived, after he begot Terah, a hundred ten and nine years: and he begot sons and daughters.

Note. centum decem et novem: 'one hundred ten and nine', 119; compound numbers can be joined with et.

Gn 11.26Vīxitque Thare septuāgintā annīs, et genuit Abram, et Nachor, et Aran.

And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nahor, and Haran.

Note. Thare, Abram, Nachor, Aran: the list now reaches the family of Abram, the central figure of the following chapters. Nachor is also the name of Thare's father (verse 84).

Gn 11.27Hae sunt autem generātiōnēs Thare: Thare genuit Abram, Nachor et Aran. Porrō Aran genuit Lot.

These, moreover, are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor and Haran. Further, Haran begot Lot.

Gn 11.28Mortuusque est Aran ante Thare patrem suum, in terrā nātīvitātis suae, in Ur Chaldaeōrum.

And Haran died before Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Note. ante Thare patrem suum: 'before Terah his father', in time: Haran died while his father was still alive. Ur Chaldaeōrum: Ur in southern Mesopotamia; the name Chaldaeans belongs to a later period.

Gn 11.29Dūxērunt autem Abram et Nachor uxōrēs: nōmen uxōris Abram, Sarai: et nōmen uxōris Nachor, Melcha fīlia Aran, patris Melchae, et patris Ieschae.

Abram and Nahor, moreover, took wives: the name of Abram's wife, Sarai: and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

Note. Dūxērunt … uxōrēs: dūcere uxōrem, 'to take a wife', 'to marry'. nōmen uxōris Abram, Sarai: supply erat.

Gn 11.30Erat autem Sarai sterilis, nec habēbat līberōs.

Sarai, however, was barren, and she did not have children.

Note. sterilis: 'barren'. The remark prepares for the story of Abram and Sarai's long wait for a son.

Gn 11.31Tulit itaque Thare Abram fīlium suum, et Lot fīlium Aran, fīlium fīliī suī, et Sarai nurum suam, uxōrem Abram fīliī suī, et ēdūxit eōs dē Ur Chaldaeōrum, ut īrent in terram Chanaan: vēnēruntque usque Haran, et habitāvērunt ibi.

Terah therefore took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, the son of his son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and he led them out from Ur of the Chaldeans, so that they might go into the land of Canaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

Note. Tulit … et ēdūxit eōs … ut īrent: tulit is the perfect of ferō, here 'took (with him)'. ut īrent: purpose clause with the imperfect subjunctive of eō. Haran (the town, Harran) lay in northern Mesopotamia on the road to Canaan.

Gn 11.32Et factī sunt diēs Thare ducentōrum quīnque annōrum, et mortuus est in Haran.

And made were the days of Terah two hundred five years, and he died in Haran.

Note. factī sunt diēs Thare ducentōrum quīnque annōrum: 'the days of Terah came to 205 years', a genitive of description as in 9.29.