And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

GENESIS 11:24KJV
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Genesis 11:24 (KJV)

What does Genesis 11:24 mean?

Genesis 11:24 records that Nahor lived twenty-nine years and then became the father of Terah. This verse is part of a genealogy that traces the descendants from Shem, the son of Noah, down to Abram (later called Abraham).

Genesis 11:24 is found in a list of family records, where each generation is introduced by the age of the father at the birth of his son. The verse simply notes Nahor’s age and the birth of Terah, who will become an important figure as the father of Abram. This genealogy helps set the stage for the story of Abraham and the beginnings of the Israelite people.

The Hebrew behind Genesis 11:24

  • נָחוֹר (Nahor, transliteration: Nachor): This is the personal name of the man mentioned, and it is important because Nahor is a direct ancestor of Terah and Abraham.
  • יָלַד (yalad, transliteration: yalad): This word means "begat" or "became the father of." It emphasizes the direct parent-child relationship, which is central to the genealogical record here.

Why Genesis 11:24 matters

  • Genesis 11:24 connects Nahor directly to Terah, showing the unbroken line from Noah’s family to Abraham, which is crucial for understanding the biblical story of Israel’s origins.
  • By carefully listing ages and names, this verse and its surrounding passage highlight the continuity and reliability of the family record, which was important to ancient readers.
  • The verse helps to situate Abraham’s family in a specific historical and genealogical context, making the later narrative about Abraham more grounded and meaningful.

Where else these words appear

“Terah” Hebrew H8646 · used in 11 verses

  • Genesis 11:25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
  • Genesis 11:28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
  • Numbers 33:27 And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah.

“Nahor” Hebrew H5152 · used in 17 verses

  • Genesis 11:22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
  • Genesis 11:29 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.
  • Genesis 24:24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.

“nine” Hebrew H8672 · used in 57 verses

  • Genesis 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
  • Deuteronomy 3:11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
  • 2 Kings 25:8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: