Genesis 10–12

Nations Descended from Noah

10These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

^2kThe sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴The sons of Javan: Elishah, ^lTarshish, ^mKittim, and Dodanim. ⁵From these ⁿthe coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.

^6oThe sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. ⁷The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.^{1 9}He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰The beginning of his kingdom was ^pBabel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in ^qthe land of Shinar. ¹¹From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and ¹²Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ^13rEgypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom² the Philistines came), and ^sCaphtorim.

^15tCanaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, ¹⁶and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. ¹⁹And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

²¹To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth,³ children were born. ²²The ^usons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. ²³The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴Arpachshad fathered ^vShelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. ^25wTo Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg,⁴ for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ^29xOphir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. ³¹These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

³²These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, ^yand from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in ^zthe land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, ^aand bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower ^bwith its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵And ^cthe Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷Come, ^dlet us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So ^ethe Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called ^fBabel, because there the Lord confused¹ the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Shem’s Descendants

^10gThese are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. ²¹And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. ²³And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When ^hNahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶When ^hTerah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah’s Descendants

²⁷Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was ⁱSarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, ^jMilcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹Terah ^ktook Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together ^lfrom Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³²The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12Now ^mthe Lord said¹ to Abram, “Go from your country² and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²ⁿAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3oI will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”³

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from ^qHaran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram ^rpassed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^sthe oak⁴ of ^tMoreh. At that time ^uthe Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^v“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^wBethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰Now ^xthere was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, ¹²and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they ^ywill kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” ¹⁴When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷But the Lord ^zafflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” ²⁰And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.