Genesis 11

Notes

1. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 53, 138

   Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, reads ποιήσομεν ἑαυτῶν ὄνομα, "we shall make our own name," a future, where Rahlfs' text reads ποιήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς, "let us make for ourselves," with the Masoretic version. The Greek has πρὸ τοῦ διασπαρῆναι, "before we are dispersed," where the Masoretic version reads "lest we scatter": the builders speak as if the dispersing were already coming, and build before it comes.

2. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 138

   οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἐξ αὐτῶν πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἐπιθῶνται ποιῆσαι, "nothing will fail from them of all things, as many as they lay on themselves to do," where the Masoretic version reads "nothing will be fenced off from them that they scheme to do." ἐπιτίθημι in the middle is to lay a task on oneself, to set about it; the Greek speaks of what they undertake, not of what they scheme, and of nothing failing them, not of nothing being out of reach. The Greek also has γένος ἕν, "one kind," where the Masoretic version reads "one people."

3. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 52, 111, 114

   Σύγχυσις, "Confusion": the Greek translates the name, where the Masoretic version reads "Babylon" (111) and carries the Hebrew's pun with "made babble" (114). The Greek's pun is in the sense: the city is called Confusion because there the Lord "confused" (συνέχεεν, the verb of 11:7) the lips of all the land. At 10:10 the Greek has Βαβυλών, "Babylon," for the same city. Philo's treatise on this chapter is named from the Greek word, On the Confusion of Tongues. At Pentecost the crowd "was confused" (συνεχύθη) because each heard the apostles speaking in his own dialect (Acts 2:6).

4. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 53, 91, 138

   The years of Shem's line differ between the two texts, and Swete's numbers are printed exactly; every number that differs is set ⸤thus⸥{other}, and a number that agrees is printed in the Greek's order, hundreds first, without the Masoretic version's repeated "years" (91), and is not marked. For Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu and Serug the Greek adds a hundred years to the age at the son's birth (135, 130, 134, 130, 132, 130, where the Masoretic version reads 35, 30, 34, 30, 32, 30), and for Nahor fifty (79 against 29). The years after the birth differ for Arpachshad (430 against 403), Shelah (330 against 403), Eber (370 against 430) and Nahor (129 against 119), and agree for Shem, Peleg, Reu and Serug; Terah's 70 and 205 years agree. The Greek also adds Kenan, Arpachshad's son, with his own 130 and 330 years (11:13; see 10:24), so that at 11:12 Arpachshad begets "Kenan" where the Masoretic version reads "Shelah" (⸤⸥{name}). And to every father but Terah the Greek adds "and died" (⸢⸣), the closing of the Gen 5 formula, which the Masoretic version keeps in Gen 5 and drops here. Counted by Swete's text, from the flood to Abram's birth is 1,072 years; by the Masoretic version, 292. With the years of Gen 5 (the note at 5:3), Abram is born in the year 3,334 from Adam by the Greek, 1,948 by the Masoretic. The Samaritan Pentateuch largely agrees with the Greek's ages at the births, and lacks Kenan. Luke follows the Greek's line (Luke 3:34–36).

5. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 52

   ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Χαλδαίων, "in the country of the Chaldeans," here and at 11:31, where the Masoretic version reads "in Ur of the Chaldeans" (אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים). The Greek has no city Ur in Genesis; it reads the word as a region, and so does Stephen: Abraham went out "from the land of the Chaldeans" (Acts 7:4; also 2 Esd 19:7 [Neh 9:7]). The rabbis read אוּר as "fire," the furnace from which Abram was saved (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; Genesis Rabbah 38:13). The Greek also has "in which he came to be" for the Masoretic version's "of his birth."

6. Decision↩ Back to the text

   Expected: "his daughter in law" (KJV, RSV)

   Rulings 2, 20

   νύμφη is split by construction (20): "bride" by default (John 3:29; Rev 21:2, 9), and "daughter-in-law" with a genitive of the parent-in-law, as here ("his," Terah's) and as in "a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (Matt 10:35; Luke 12:53). The Masoretic version prints כַּלָּה the same way, "daughter-in-law" with a father-in-law. The Greek glosses the word itself with its apposition, "woman of his son," so Sarai is not Terah's bride.

7. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 54, 143

   The Greek reads γυναῖκα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, "woman of his son," and lacks the name the Masoretic version gives, "the woman of Abram his son." The alignment does not set the lack, so it is marked (54). The Greek also has the singular "he brought them out … he came … he dwelt" with Terah as subject, where the Masoretic version reads "they went out with them … they came … they dwelt."

8. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 110

   Χαρράν, the city (Acts 7:2, 4), and Ἁρράν, Terah's son (11:26–31), are two names in the Greek as in the Hebrew (חָרָן, הָרָן), where the Masoretic version prints the city "Harran" (110) and the son "Haran." This version does the same: the city is "Harran," the son "Haran" (110, 145b).