Genesis 11
Wycliffe's Bible
1Forsooth (all) the land was of one language, and of the same speech. [Forsooth the (whole) earth was of one lip, and of the same words.] 2And when they went forth from the east, they found a field in the land of Shinar, and they dwelled therein. 3And one said to his neighbour (And they said to one another), Come ye, and make we tilestones, and bake we those with fire; and they had tile for stones, and pitch, either strong glue, for mortar; 4and they said, Come ye, and make we to us a city and a tower, whose highness stretch till to (the) heaven(s); and make we solemn our name, before that we be parted into all lands. (and they said, Come ye, and let us make a city, and a tower whose height shall stretch up to the sky; and make we our name well-known, or else we shall soon be parted from each other into all the earth.) 5Forsooth the Lord came down to see the city, and the tower, which the sons of Adam builded (which the sons of men were building). 6And he said, Lo! the people is one, and one language is to all, and they have begun to make this; neither they shall cease of their thoughts, till they [ful]fill those in work (and they shall not cease from their thoughts, until they have fulfilled them in deed); 7therefore come ye, go we down, and shame we there the tongue of them, that each man hear not the voice of his neighbour. (and so come ye, let us go down there, and confuse their tongues, so that each person shall not be able to understand their neighbour’s voice.) 8And so the Lord separated them from that place into all (the) lands; and they ceased to build the city. 9And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, for the language of all [the] earth was confounded there; and from thence the Lord scattered them on the face of all countries (and from there the Lord scattered them over all the face of the earth).

10These be the generations of Shem (These be the descendants of Shem). Shem was an hundred years (old) when he begat Arphaxad, two years after the great flood. 11And Shem lived after that he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

12Forsooth Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and (then) begat Salah; 13and Arphaxad lived after that he begat Salah three hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. (and Arphaxad lived after that he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.)

14And Salah lived thirty years, and (then) begat Eber; 15and Salah lived after that he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

16Soothly Eber lived four and thirty years, and (then) begat Peleg; 17and Eber lived after that he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

18Also Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu; (And Peleg lived thirty years, and then begat Reu;) 19and Peleg lived after that he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20And Reu lived two and thirty years, and (then) begat Serug; 21and Reu lived after that he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22Soothly Serug lived thirty years, and (then) begat Nahor; 23and Serug lived after that he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24Forsooth Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and (then) begat Terah; 25and Nahor lived after that he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26And Terah lived seventy years, and (then) begat Abram , Nahor, and Haran.

27Soothly these be the generations of Terah (These be the descendants of Terah). Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Forsooth Haran begat Lot; 28and Haran died before Terah, his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of Chaldees (in Ur of the Chaldeans, later called Babylon). 29Forsooth Abram and Nahor wedded wives; the name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, (the) father of Milcah, and (also the) father of Iscah. (And Abram and Nahor wedded wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran, who was also the father of Iscah.) 30Soothly Sarai was barren, and had no children.

31And so Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram, his son, and led them out of Ur of Chaldees, that they should go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelled there. (And Terah took his son Abram, and Lot, the son of his son Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and led them out from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and lived there.) 32And the days of Terah were made two hundred years and five, and he was dead in Haran. (And all the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and then he died in Haran.)

WYCLIFFE’S BIBLE

Comprising of
Wycliffe’s Old Testament

and

Wycliffe’s New Testament
(Revised Edition)


Translated by

JOHN WYCLIFFE
and JOHN PURVEY


A modern-spelling edition of their
14TH century Middle English translation,
the first complete English vernacular version,
with an Introduction by

TERENCE P. NOBLE

Used by Permission

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