Genesis 11:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

NIV: And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

NASB: and Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

CSB: After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters.

NLT: After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

KJV: And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

NKJV: After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

After fathering Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had many other children. Adding the numbers together, Reu lived to be 239 years old. This is a noticeably shorter life than his grandfathers, such as Shelah and Eber (Genesis 11:15–17). It's also drastically less than early men such as Adam and Seth (Genesis 5). This trend will continue until the era of Abram, when the definition of "old age" reaches the same general outlines we see in the modern world.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Accessed 4/29/2024 5:46:31 AM