And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they lived there. And they said to one another, Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, and its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth.
Another contradiction. The last chapter was verse after verse after verse of where different languages and nations came from. Here, the whole earth is one language. Asphalt makes a poor mortar, and you can’t make a very tall tower out of brick and mortar.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built. And the LORD said, Behold! The people is one and they all have one language. And this they begin to do. And now nothing which they have imagined to do will be restrained from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of all the earth. And they quit building the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel; because the LORD confused the language of all the earth there. And from there the LORD scattered them abroad on the face of all the earth.
I love the phrase, “And now nothing which they have imagined to do will be restrained from them.” Humans now have touched the heavens, and, with the help of translation, have one language again. We can do anything. Oh, back to the ‘us’ again. Who is us? I know the cities we have now are far far greater than what was possible when the bible was written. I live in Chicago, the home of the skyscraper. This little scheme to break up humanity didn’t work out.
These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And after he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived five hundred years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and fathered Salah. And after he fathered Salah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years and fathered Eber. And after he fathered Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Eber lived thirty-four years and fathered Peleg. And after he fathered Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years and fathered Reu. After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Reu lived thirty-two years and fathered Serug. And after he fathered Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years and fathered Nahor. And after he fathered Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Nahor lived twenty-nine years and fathered Terah. And after he fathered Terah, Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years. And he fathered sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years and fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Still, the long ass lifespans. What happened to 120 years?
Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran fathered Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. And the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren. She had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. And he went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran and lived there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years. And Terah died in Haran.
Shorter lifespan, still silly and impossible and over 120 years.