Genesis 10:1–11:9

THE TABLE OF NATIONS

10These are the family records^u of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood.

²Japheth’s sons:^v Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish,^w Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language.

⁶Ham’s sons:^x Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. ⁹He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.” ¹⁰His kingdom started with Babylon,^a Erech,^D Accad,^E and Calneh,^F in the land of Shinar.^{Gb 11}From that land he went to Assyria^c and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, ¹²and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

¹³Mizraim^Hd fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, ¹⁴Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor.^e

¹⁵Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, ¹⁶as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,^{f 17}the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. ¹⁹The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are Ham’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

²¹And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber.^{g 22}Shem’s sons^h were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

²³Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴Arpachshad fathered Shelah,ⁱ and Shelah fathered Eber. ²⁵Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg,^A for during his days the earth was divided;^j his brother was named Joktan. ²⁶And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons. ³⁰Their settlements extended from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country.

³¹These are Shem’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

³²These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their family records, in their nations. The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.^k

THE TOWER OF BABYLON

11The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. ²As people migrated from the east,^B they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{l 3}They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt^m for mortar.) ⁴And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky.ⁿ Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”

⁵Then the Lord came down^o to look over the city and the tower that the humans^C were building. ⁶The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth,^p and they stopped building the city. ⁹Therefore it is called Babylon,^DEq for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.