---
title: "Genesis 11 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/genesis/11/
description: "The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Sem down to Abram. Genesis 11 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Genesis 11

Genesis 11 is chapter 11 of 50 in the Book of Genesis. Here are all 32 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Sem down to Abram.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Genesis 11 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Now the earth was of one language and of the same speech.
2. And when they were advancing from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt in it.
3. And each one said to his neighbor, “Come, let us make bricks, and bake them with fire.” And they had bricks instead of stones, and pitch instead of mortar.
4. And they said: “Come, let us make a city and a tower, so that its height may reach to heaven. And let us make our name famous before we are divided into all the lands.”
5. Then the Lord descended to see the city and the tower, which the sons of Adam were building.
6. And he said: “Behold, the people are united, and all have one tongue. And since they have begun to do this, they will not desist from their plans, until they have completed their work.
7. Therefore, come, let us descend, and in that place confound their tongue, so that they may not listen, each one to the voice of his neighbor.”
8. And so the Lord divided them from that place into all the lands, and they ceased to build the city.
9. And for this reason, its name was called ‘Babel,’ because in that place the language of the whole earth became confused. And from then on, the Lord scattered them across the face of every region.
10. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old when he conceived Arphaxad, two years after the great flood.
11. And after he conceived Arphaxad, Shem lived for five hundred years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
12. Next, Arphaxad lived for thirty-five years, and then he conceived Shelah.
13. And after he conceived Shelah, Arphaxad lived for three hundred and three years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
14. Likewise, Shelah lived for thirty years, and then he conceived Eber.
15. And after he conceived Eber, Shelah lived for four hundred and three years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
16. Then Eber lived for thirty-four years, and he conceived Peleg.
17. And after he conceived Peleg, Eber lived for four hundred and thirty years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
18. Likewise, Peleg lived for thirty years, and then he conceived Reu.
19. And after he conceived Reu, Peleg lived for two hundred and nine years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
20. Then Reu lived for thirty-two years, and then he conceived Serug.
21. Likewise, after he conceived Serug, Reu lived for two hundred and seven years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
22. In truth, Serug lived for thirty years, and then he conceived Nahor.
23. And after he conceived Nahor, Serug lived for two hundred years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
24. And so Nahor lived for twenty-nine years, and then he conceived Terah.
25. And after he conceived Terah, Nahor lived for one hundred and nineteen years, and he conceived sons and daughters.
26. And Terah lived for seventy years, and then he conceived Abram, and Nahor, and Haran.
27. And these are the generations of Terah. Terah conceived Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Next Haran conceived Lot.
28. And Haran died before his father Terah, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29. Then Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. And the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
30. But Sarai was barren and had no children.
31. And so Terah took his son Abram, and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and he led them away from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go into the land of Canaan. And they approached as far as Haran, and they dwelt there.
32. And the days of Terah that passed were two hundred and five years, and then he died in Haran.

## Genesis 11 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Erat autem terra labii unius, et sermonum eorumdem.
2. Cumque proficiscerentur de oriente, invenerunt campum in terra Sennaar, et habitaverunt in eo.
3. Dixitque alter ad proximum suum: Venite, faciamus lateres, et coquamus eos igni. Habueruntque lateres pro saxis, et bitumen pro cæmento:
4. et dixerunt: Venite, faciamus nobis civitatem et turrim, cujus culmen pertingat ad cælum: et celebremus nomen nostrum antequam dividamur in universas terras.
5. Descendit autem Dominus ut videret civitatem et turrim, quam ædificabant filii Adam,
6. et dixit: Ecce, unus est populus, et unum labium omnibus: cœperuntque hoc facere, nec desistent a cogitationibus suis, donec eas opere compleant.
7. Venite igitur, descendamus, et confundamus ibi linguam eorum, ut non audiat unusquisque vocem proximi sui.
8. Atque ita divisit eos Dominus ex illo loco in universas terras, et cessaverunt ædificare civitatem.
9. Et idcirco vocatum est nomen ejus Babel, quia ibi confusum est labium universæ terræ: et inde dispersit eos Dominus super faciem cunctarum regionum.
10. Hæ sunt generationes Sem: Sem erat centum annorum quando genuit Arphaxad, biennio post diluvium.
11. Vixitque Sem, postquam genuit Arphaxad, quingentis annis: et genuit filios et filias.
12. Porro Arphaxad vixit triginta quinque annis, et genuit Sale.
13. Vixitque Arphaxad, postquam genuit Sale, trecentis tribus annis: et genuit filios et filias.
14. Sale quoque vixit triginta annis, et genuit Heber.
15. Vixitque Sale, postquam genuit Heber, quadringentis tribus annis: et genuit filios et filias.
16. Vixit autem Heber triginta quatuor annis, et genuit Phaleg.
17. Et vixit Heber postquam genuit Phaleg, quadringentis triginta annis: et genuit filios et filias.
18. Vixit quoque Phaleg triginta annis, et genuit Reu.
19. Vixitque Phaleg, postquam genuit Reu, ducentis novem annis: et genuit filios et filias.
20. Vixit autem Reu triginta duobus annis, et genuit Sarug.
21. Vixit quoque Reu, postquam genuit Sarug, ducentis septem annis: et genuit filios et filias.
22. Vixit vero Sarug triginta annis, et genuit Nachor.
23. Vixitque Sarug, postquam genuit Nachor, ducentis annis: et genuit filios et filias.
24. Vixit autem Nachor viginti novem annis, et genuit Thare.
25. Vixitque Nachor, postquam genuit Thare, centum decem et novem annis: et genuit filios et filias.
26. Vixitque Thare septuaginta annis, et genuit Abram, et Nachor, et Aran.
27. Hæ sunt autem generationes Thare: Thare genuit Abram, Nachor et Aran. Porro Aran genuit Lot.
28. Mortuusque est Aran ante Thare patrem suum, in terra nativitatis suæ, in Ur Chaldæorum.
29. Duxerunt autem Abram et Nachor uxores: nomen uxoris Abram, Sarai: et nomen uxoris Nachor, Melcha filia Aran, patris Melchæ, et patris Jeschæ.
30. Erat autem Sarai sterilis, nec habebat liberos.
31. Tulit itaque Thare Abram filium suum, et Lot filium Aran, filium filii sui, et Sarai nurum suam, uxorem Abram filii sui, et eduxit eos de Ur Chaldæorum, ut irent in terram Chanaan: veneruntque usque Haran, et habitaverunt ibi.
32. Et facti sunt dies Thare ducentorum quinque annorum, et mortuus est in Haran.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 57: The Stages of Revelation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 9: “Babel” … That is, confusion.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).