Genesis 10–12

The Descendants of the Sons of Noah

10These are the generations^a of the sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Children^b were born to them after the flood. ²The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵From these the coastland peoples spread out through their lands, each according to his own language by their own families, in their nations.

⁶And the sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. ⁷And the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸And Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty warrior.^{c 9}He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it was said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.” ¹⁰Now,^d the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹From that land he went out to Assyria, and he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, ¹²Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³And Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.

¹⁵Canaan 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 families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. ¹⁹And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon in the direction of^e Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of^f Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰These are the descendants^g of Ham, according to their families and their languages, in their lands, and in their nations.

²¹And to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the older brother of Japheth, children were also born. ²²The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. ²³And the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴And Arphaxad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. ²⁵And to Eber two sons were born. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Joktan. ²⁶And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰And their dwelling place extended from^h Mesha in the direction ofⁱ Sephar to the hill country of the east. ³¹These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, and according to their nations.

³²These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations^j and in their nations. And from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11Now^a the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as people migrated^b from the east they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to each other,^c “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.”^d And they had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar. ⁴And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵Then^e Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that humankind^f was building. ⁶And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people with one language,^g and this is only the beginning of what they will do.^h Soⁱ now nothing that they intend to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand each other’s language.”^{j 8}So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Babel, for there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth, and there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The Descendants of Shem

¹⁰These are the generations^k of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old,^l he fathered Arphaxad, two years after the flood. ¹¹And Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arphaxad, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹²When Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³And Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁴When Shelah had lived thirty years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵And Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁶When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁸When Peleg had lived thirty years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁰When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he fathered Serug. ²¹And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ²²When Serug had lived thirty years, he fathered Nahor. ²³And Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁴When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵And Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁶When Terah had lived seventy years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Descendants of Terah

²⁷Now^m these are the generationsⁿ of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰And Sarai was barren; she had no child. ³¹And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson,^o and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to Haran, and they settled there. ³²And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. ²And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. ³And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

Abram’s Journey

⁴And Abram went out as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old^a when he went out from Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew,^b and all their possessions that they had gathered, and all the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to the land of Canaan. ⁶And Abram traveled through the land up to the place of Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. ⁸And he moved on from there to the hill country, east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent at Bethel on the west, and at Ai on the east. And he built an altar there to Yahweh. And he called on the name of Yahweh. ⁹And Abram kept moving on,^c toward the Negev.

¹⁰And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹And it happened that as he drew near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “Look now, I know that you are a woman beautiful of appearance, ¹²and it shall happen that, if the Egyptians see you, then they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ then they will kill me but let you live. ¹³Please say you are my sister so that it will go well for me on your account. Then I will live^d on account of you.” ¹⁴And it happened that as Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵And the officials of Pharaoh saw her, and they praised her beauty to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁶And he dealt well with Abram on account of her, and he had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male slaves, female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷Then^e Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues on account of the matter of Sarai the wife of Abram. ¹⁸Then Pharaoh called for 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 to myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go.” ²⁰And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and then sent him and his wife and all that was with him away.