Genesis 11–25

11TH CHAPTER

The Tower of Babel

¹The whole world had one language with a common vocabulary. ²As people moved toward the east,^athey found a plain in Shinar ^[Babylonia^[ and settled there. 

³They said to one another, “Let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used bricks as stones and tar^bas mortar. 

⁴Then they said, “Let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t become scattered all over the face of the earth.” 

⁵The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the descendants of Adam were building. ⁶The Lord said, “They are one people with one language. This is only the beginning of what they will do! Now nothing they plan to do will be too difficult for them. ⁷Let us go down there and mix up their language so that they won’t understand each other.” 

⁸So the Lord scattered them all over the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹This is why it was named Babel, because there the Lord turned the language of the whole earth into babble. From that place the Lord scattered them all over the face of the earth. 

The Ten Descendants of Shem—Shem to Terah—1 Chronicles 1:17–23

¹⁰This is the account of Shem and his descendants. Two years after the flood when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arpachshad. ¹¹After he became the father of Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 

¹²Arpachshad was 35 years old when he became the father of Shelah. ¹³After he became the father of Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 

¹⁴Shelah was 30 years old when he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵After he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 

¹⁶Eber was 34 years old when he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷After he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 

¹⁸Peleg was 30 years old when he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹After he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 

²⁰Reu was 32 years old when he became the father of Serug. ²¹After he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 

²²Serug was 30 years old when he became the father of Nahor. ²³After he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 

²⁴Nahor was 29 years old when he became the father of Terah. ²⁵After he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 

²⁶Terah was 70 years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 

Terah Moves to Haran

²⁷This is the account of Terah and his descendants. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, his native land. ²⁹Both Abram and Nahor married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran. (Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah.) ³⁰Sarai was not able to have children. 

³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, wife of his son Abram. They set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came as far as Haran, they stayed there. ³²Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran. 

12TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s First Promise to Abram

¹The Lord said to Abram, 

“Leave your land, 

your relatives, 

and your father’s home. 

Go to the land that I will show you. 

²I will make you a great nation, 

I will bless you. 

I will make your name great, 

and you will be a blessing. 

³I will bless those who bless you, 

and whoever curses you, I will curse. 

Through you every family on earth will be blessed.” 

The Lord’s Second Promise to Abram

⁴So Abram left, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. ⁵Abram set out for Canaan. He took along his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the servants they had acquired in Haran. 

⁶They arrived in Canaan,and Abram traveled through the land to the oak tree belonging to Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I’m going to give this land to your descendants.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 

⁸He moved on to the hills east of Bethel, and he put up his tent—with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He also built an altar to the Lord there and worshiped the Lord. ⁹Abram kept moving toward the Negev. 

Abram Deceives Pharaoh

¹⁰There was a famine in the land. Abram went to Egypt to stay awhile because the famine was severe. ¹¹When he was about to enter Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “I know that you’re a beautiful woman. ¹²When the Egyptians see you, they’ll say, ‘This is his wife!’ Then they’ll kill me but let you live. ¹³Please say that you’re my sister. Then everything will be alright for me, and because of you I will live.” 

¹⁴When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful his wife was. ¹⁵When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they raved about her to Pharaoh, so Sarai was taken to Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁶Everything went well for Abram because of her, and he was given sheep, cattle, donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels. 

¹⁷However, the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with terrible plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸Then Pharaoh called for Abram. “What have you done to me?” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me that she’s your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’ and allow me to take her for my wife? Here’s your wife! Take her and go!” ²⁰Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram. They sent Abram away with his wife and everything that he had. 

13TH CHAPTER

Abram and Lot Separate

¹Abram left Egypt with his wife and everything he had and went to the Negev. Lot was with him. ²Abram was very rich because he had livestock, silver, and gold. ³He traveled from place to place. He went from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the area between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been originally, ⁴where he had first made an altar. There Abram worshiped the Lord. 

⁵Lot, who had been traveling with Abram, also had his own sheep, cattle, and tents. ⁶There wasn’t enough pastureland for both of them. They had so many possessions that they were unable to remain together. ⁷Quarrels broke out between Abram’s herders and Lot’s herders. (Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in that area.) 

⁸Abram said to Lot, “Please, let’s not have any more quarrels between us or between our herders. After all, we’re relatives. ⁹Isn’t all this land yours also? Let’s separate. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right, and if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” ¹⁰Then Lot looked in the direction of Zoar as far as he could see. He saw that the whole Jordan Plain was well-watered like the Lord’s garden or like Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 

¹¹Lot chose the whole Jordan Plain for himself. He moved toward the east. They each went their own way. ¹²Abram lived in Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain, moving his tents as far as Sodom. ¹³(The people who lived in Sodom were very wicked. They committed terrible sins against the Lord.) 

The Lord’s Third Promise to Abram

¹⁴After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look north, south, east, and west of where you are. ¹⁵I will give all the land you see to you and to your descendants for an indefinite period of time. ¹⁶I will also give you as many descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count your descendants. ¹⁷Go! Walk back and forth across the entire land because I will give it to you.” ¹⁸So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oak trees belonging to Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar for the Lord. 

14TH CHAPTER

Abram Rescues Lot

¹At that time ⸤four kings⸥—King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim—²went to war against ⸤five kings⸥—King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³The five kings joined forces and met in the valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea). ⁴For 12 years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and his allies came and defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim at Shaveh Kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, going as far as El Paran on the edge of the desert. ⁷On their way back, they came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who were living at Hazazon Tamar. 

⁸Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and prepared for battle in the valley of Siddim. ⁹They fought against King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰The valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. As the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell because of the tar pits, but the other kings fled to the hills. ¹¹So the four kings took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as all their food, and left. ¹²They also took Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions since he was living in Sodom. 

¹³Then a soldier who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew what had happened. He was living next to the oak trees belonging to Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner. (These men were Abram’s allies.) 

¹⁴When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he armedhis 318 trained men, born in his own household, and pursued the four kings all the way to Dan. ¹⁵He split up his men to attack them at night. He defeated them, pursuing them all the way to Hobah, which is…