What does Genesis 11:23 mean?
ESV: And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
NIV: And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
NASB: and Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
CSB: After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters.
NLT: After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
KJV: And Serug lived after he begot Nahor two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
NKJV: After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
Verse Commentary:
After fathering Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other children. Adding the numbers together, Serug lived to be 230 years old. Generations immediately following the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9), such as those of Peleg (Genesis 10:25; 11:6–7), will live half as long as their predecessors. Their children will live even less than that. This culminates in the generations of people such as Abram and Sarai—later renamed Abraham and Sarah—whose lives stretch to the same general length we see in the modern world.
Verse Context:
Genesis 11:10–26 provides a direct genealogy from Noah to Abram, through Noah's blessed-by-God son, Shem. This record shows a direct genetic line from Noah and the flood, through Peleg and the dispersion of humanity at the Tower of Babel, to Terah, Abram's father.
Chapter Summary:
Genesis 11 contains three sections: God confuses and scatters the people of the world to stop the building of Babel and its tower. A genealogy is provided showing the direct links between Noah and Abram. The ''generations'' of Terah are introduced, providing a description of the family out of which God will call Abram to become the father of His chosen people.
Chapter Context:
Genesis 10 provided a table of the nations, describing the peoples and tribes that descended from Noah's three sons and where they settled. Genesis 11 describes how God scattered the peoples of the world after confusing their languages to stop the building of Babel and its tower. The chapter also provides a direct genealogy from Noah to Abram and then introduces Abram by way of his father Terah. The following chapter will begin the story of Abram and God's chosen people, Israel.
Book Summary:
The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.
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