Genesis 11 · The Lantern

Forsothe the lond was of o langage, and of the same speche.

And in the three and thirtieth jubilee, in the first year in the second week, Peleg took to himself a wife, whose name was Lomna the daughter of Sina'ar, and she bare him a son in the fourth year of this week, and he called his name Reu; for he said: 'Behold the children of men have become evil through the wicked purpose of building for themselves a city and a tower in the land…

And they arose and came from the land of the east; and, as they went through the land, they chanced upon the land of Shinar, which was exceeding broad; where they took in hand to build a tower. They sought means thereby to go up to heaven, and be able to leave their work as a memorial to those men who should come after them.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words, as long as men remained in the East: but when they moved from the East, soon because of the words or deeds of pride, they were separated from each other and were expelled further from their Creator.

And whanne thei yeden forth fro the eest, thei fonden a feeld in the lond of Sennaar, and dwelliden ther ynne.

And oon seide to his neiybore, Come ye, and make we tiel stonys, and bake we tho with fier; and thei hadden tiel for stonus, and pitche for morter;

and seiden, Come ye, and make we to vs a citee and tour, whos hiynesse stretche `til to heuene; and make we solempne oure name bifor that we be departid in to alle londis.

They foolishly began to build a tower that touched the stars and thought they might be able to climb the skies with it. But God, seeing that their work proceeded because they spoke the same language, intervened and caused them to speak different languages. Then he scattered them by isolating them in the islands of the earth, so that nations speaking different tongues arose.

After the flood, as if striving to fortify themselves against God, as if there could be anything high for God or anything secure for pride, certain proud men built a tower, ostensibly so that they might not be destroyed by a flood if one came later. For they had heard and recalled that all iniquity had been destroyed by the flood. They were unwilling to abstain from iniquity.

Come, he said, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top may reach to heaven. The wicked teachers make a city for themselves when, having left the heavenly city, whose architect and builder is God—that is, the holy Church—they gather their own assemblies.

Forsothe the Lord cam down to se the citee and tour, which the sones of Adam bildiden.

And he seide, Lo! the puple is oon, and o langage is to alle, and thei han bigunne to make this, nethir thei schulen ceesse of her thouytis, til thei fillen tho in werk; therfor come ye, go we doun,

and scheende we there the tunge of hem, that ech man here not the voys of his neiybore.

This in fact is the way the Lord is accustomed to behave. This is what he did in the beginning in the case of the [first] woman as well. She had abused the status conferred on her, and for that reason he subjected her to her husband.

But after some time had elapsed, He is again found using an expression more distinctly plural when He says: Come, let us go down and confound their language—an expression which can no longer be thought applicable to two only, but to three or more.

Come, let us go down and there confuse their language. It is said to those who were present: Come, because indeed this itself never decreases from divine contemplation, and it is always to increase in divine contemplation; and never to withdraw from the heart is always to come by a certain stable motion. To whom he also says: Let us go down and confuse their language there.

And so the Lord departide hem fro that place in to alle londis; and thei cessiden to bielde a cytee.

And therfor the name therof was clepid Babel, for the langage of al erthe was confoundide there; and fro thennus the Lord scaterede hem on the face of alle cuntrees.

It is likely that they lost their common language when they received these new languages. For if their original language had not perished their first deed would not have come to nothing. It was when they lost their original language, which was lost by all the nations, with one exception, that their first building came to nought.

Just as when holy men live together, it is a great grace and blessing; so, likewise, that congregation is the worst kind when sinners dwell together. The more sinners there are at one time, the worse they are. Indeed, when the tower was being built up against God, those who were building it were disbanded for their own welfare. The conspiracy was evil.

And so the Lord scattered them from that place over all the earth, and they ceased to build the city; and therefore it was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confused.

These ben the generaciouns of Sem. Sem was of an hundrid yeer whanne he gendride Arfaxath, twey yeer aftir the greet flood.

And Sem lyuede aftir that he gendride Arfaxath fyue hundrid yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

Forsothe Arfaxath lyuede fyue and thretti yeer, and gendride Sale;

and Arfaxath lyuede aftir that he gendride Sale thre hundride and thre yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

Also Sale lyuede thretti yeer, and gendride Heber;

and Sale lyuede after that he gendride Heber foure hundrid and thre yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

Sotheli Heber lyuede foure and thretti yeer, and gendride Falech;

and Heber lyuede aftir that he gendride Falech foure hundrid and thretti yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

Also Falech lyuede thretti yeer, and gendride Reu;

and Falech lyuede aftir that he gendride Reu two hundrid and nyne yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

And Reu lyuede two and thretti yeer, and gendride Saruch;

and Reu lyuede aftir that he gendride Saruch two hundrid and seuene yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

Sotheli Saruch lyuede thretti yeer, and gendride Nachor;

and Saruch lyuede aftir that he gendride Nacor two hundrid yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

Forsothe Nachor lyuede nyne and twenti yeer, and gendride Thare;

and Nachor lyuede after that he gendride Thare an hundrid and nynetene yeer, and gendride sones and douytris.

And Thare lyuede seuenti yeer, and gendride Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

Sotheli these ben the generaciouns of Thare. Thare gendride Abram, Nachor, and Aran. Forsothe Aran gendride Loth;

and Aran diede bifore Thare, his fadir, in the lond of his natiuite, in Vr of Caldeis.

Forsothe Abram and Nachor weddiden wyues; the name of the wijf of Abram was Saray, and the name of the wiif of Nachor was Melcha, the douyter of Aran, fadir of Melcha and fadir of Jescha.

(Verse 29) And Abram and Nachor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran. The father of Milcah was also the father of Iscah. Haran fathered two daughters, Milcah and Iscah, who were both called by the same name. Of these, Milcah became the wife of Nachor, and Sarai became the wife of Abram.

"And Abram and Nahor took them wives: 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." This Iscah is supposed to be the same as Sarai, Abraham's wife.

Abram and Nachor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor's wife was Melcha, the daughter of Aran, the father of Melcha and the father of Jescha. Our elders say that Jescha is the same as Sarai, the wife of Abraham, since evidently the brothers Abraham and Nachor had two sisters, the daughters of Aran, as wives.

Sotheli Saray was bareyn, and hadde no children.

And so Thare took Abram, his sone, and Loth, the sone of Aran his sone, and Saray, his douyter in lawe, the wijf of Abram, his sone, and ledde hem out of Vr of Caldeis, that thei schulen go in to the lond of Chanaan; and thei camen `til to Aran, and dwelliden there.

Since, however, I have made mention of the patriarch, let us put before your good selves today's reading, if you do not mind, so as to explain it and thus see the extraordinary degree of the good man's virtue.

But afterwards, when Abraham sent his servant to take a wife for his son Isaac, we find it thus written: "And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his lord, and of all the goods of his lord, with him; and arose, and went into Mesopotamia, into the city of Nahor." This and other testimonies of this sacred history show that Nahor, Abraham's brother, had also left the regi…

So Thare took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go into the land of Canaan. The old translation has, "he brought them out of the region of the Chaldeans," which poses no question at all.

And the daies of Thare weren maad two hundrid yeer and fyue, and he was deed in Aran.

Genesis11