New Testament reading of Genesis 11

Three New Testament passages are treated as exegetical cross-references, each from the BSB, and no Greek form is claimed. Acts 2:1–11 is a thematic counterpart, not a formal citation: at Pentecost, people from many nations hear the wonders of God, each in his own language, where at Babel the Lord had confused a common speech and scattered the builders. Early Christian reading has taken the gift of tongues as a sign of one message in many languages (Driver; Keil; Calvin). Luke 3:34–36 reads the Shem-to-Abraham line into Jesus’ genealogy and includes “the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad,” which matches the Greek of 11:12–13 and is not in the Hebrew; the printed Hebrew is followed, with medium confidence, and the question is the same as at 10:24 (see the Luke and Kainan notes). Acts 7:2–4 has the God of glory appear to Abraham in Mesopotamia before Haran, and states that after his father died God brought him into the land. That last clause sits in tension with the Masoretic 205 years if Abram is born when Terah is 70 and leaves at 75. The Samaritan 145 years would synchronize the figures; 11:26 may name Abram first without making him the firstborn; or Stephen may be following the order of the narrative (Keil). None of these explanations is adopted here. Luke 1:51 and John 5:44 are not developed.