Passage Research
Genesis 11 — Sermon Preparation
The tower of Babel is built, God scatters humanity by confusing their language, and a genealogy runs from Shem to Abram. Below is a research summary for Genesis 11, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 32
- verses
- 392 / 110
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 9
- classic sermon excerpts
- 5
- preachers & commentators
Genesis 11 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָלַד | yâlad | H3205 | 27 | bear young, beget |
| שָׁנֶה | shâneh | H8141 | 26 | year, revolution |
| חָיָה | châyâh | H2421 | 16 | live, revive |
| תֶּרַח | Terach | H8646 | 9 | Terach |
| נָחוֹר | Nâchôwr | H5152 | 8 | Nachor |
| הָרָן | Hârân | H2039 | 6 | Haran |
| מֵאָה | mêʼâh | H3967 | 10 | hundred |
How preachers through history handled this text
9 public-domain excerpts on Genesis 11, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“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 same places where we live, as we likewise know little of those who now live in distant places! We have enough to do to mind our own work. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Genesis 11:10–26 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Shinar— Gen 11:2
- Chaldea— Gen 11:28
- Ur 1— Gen 11:28
- Canaan— Gen 11:31
- Haran— Gen 11:31
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