1279、首先论述的是大洪水后的第一个古教会（1-9节）。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1279. Genesis 11
1. And the whole earth had one language and the same words.{*1} 2. And it happened when they set out from the east that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3. And they said, a man to his companion,{*2} "Come, let us make bricks and bake them until baked." And they had brick in place of stone, and tar they had in place of mortar.{*3} 4. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its head in the sky. And let us make ourselves a name, to keep from being scattered over the face of the whole earth.
5. And Jehovah went down to see the city and tower that the children of humankind were building.
6. And Jehovah said, "Look: the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they are starting to do; and now nothing would be prohibited to them that they thought to do.
7. Come, let us go down and muddle their language there, so that a man will be unable to understand the language of his companion."
8. And Jehovah scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
9. For this reason he called its name Babel, because there Jehovah muddled the language of the whole earth.{*4} And from there Jehovah scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
10. These are the births of Shem: Shem was a son of one hundred years,{*5} and he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood.
11. And after Shem fathered Arpachshad he lived five hundred years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
12. And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and fathered Shelah.
13. And after Arpachshad fathered Shelah he lived four hundred three years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
14. And Shelah lived thirty years and fathered Eber.
15. And after Shelah fathered Eber he lived four hundred three years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
16. And Eber lived thirty-four years and fathered Peleg.
17. And after Eber fathered Peleg he lived four hundred thirty years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
18. And Peleg lived thirty years and fathered Reu.
19. And after Peleg fathered Reu he lived two hundred nine years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
20. And Reu lived thirty-two years and fathered Serug.
21. And after Reu fathered Serug he lived two hundred seven years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
22. And Serug lived thirty years and fathered Nahor.
23. And after Serug fathered Nahor he lived two hundred years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
24. And Nahor lived twenty-nine years and fathered Terah.
25. And after Nahor fathered Terah he lived one hundred nineteen years; and he fathered sons and daughters.
26. And Terah lived seventy years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27. And these are the births of Terah: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran fathered Lot.
28. And Haran died in the presence of Terah, his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29. And Abram and Nahor took themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah daughter of Haran (the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah).{*6} 30. And Sarai was infertile; she had no offspring.
31. And Terah took Abram his son and Lot son of Haran (son of his son) and Sarai his daughter-in-law (wife of his son Abram), and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. And they came all the way to Haran{*7} and stayed there.
32. And the days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.
Footnotes:
{*1} (in the text of Genesis 11:1). The Latin word here translated "language" is labium, whose root meaning is "lip." Because of differences between Latin and English idioms, for intelligibility in this chapter this Latin word has been rendered with the English words "language," "lip," or "speech," depending on context. [LHC]
{*2} (in the text of Genesis 11:3). The Hebrew phrase here translated "a man to his companion" means "to each other." [LHC]
{*3} (in the text of Genesis 11:3). On tar, or bitumen: "Bitumen is a hydrocarbon allied to petroleum and natural gas... . It is found in small lumps and larger masses in the cretaceous limestone on the west side of the Dead Sea, and there is reason to believe that considerable quantities of it rise to the surface of the Dead Sea during earthquakes... . According to Herodotus and other classical writers it was used as mortar with sun-dried bricks" (Orr and others 1960, under "slime"). [RS]
{*4} (in the text of Genesis 11:9). The Hebrew here is connecting the name Babel (בָּבֶל [bāḇel]) with a verb meaning "muddle" (בָּלַל [bālal]). [LHC]
{*5} (in the text of Genesis 11:10). "A son of (so many) years" is a Hebraism meaning "(so many) years old." [LHC]
{*6} (in the text of Genesis 11:29). Nahor thus married his niece. The marriage of uncle and niece is not specifically forbidden in later Old Testament law (see Leviticus 18:6-20; 20:10-21), unlike the marriage of aunt and nephew (Leviticus 18:12-14; 20:19). The marriage of Abram with his half-sister Sarai (see Genesis 20:12) was of a type later forbidden (Leviticus 18:11; 20:17). [SS]
{*7} (in the text of Genesis 11:31). The "Haran" (Latin Haran; Hebrew הָרָן [hārān]) mentioned earlier in this verse, and in verses 26 through 29, is a person. The "Haran" mentioned at the end of this verse and in the next, although spelled identically in English, is a place, not a person. It represents the Latin Charan, Hebrew חָרָן (ḥārān). [LHC]
1279. Summary
VERSES 1-9 treat of the first ancient church, which followed the Flood.
Potts(1905-1910) 1279
1279. THE CONTENTS. The subject treated of is the first Ancient Church, which was after the flood (verses 1-9).
Elliott(1983-1999) 1279
1279.
The subject in verses 1-9 is the first Ancient Church, which came after the Flood.
Latin(1748-1756) 1279
1279. CONTENTAAGITUR de Ecclesia Antiqua prima quae post diluvium, vers. 1-9.