Genesis 11–25

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.

The Parting of Abram and Lot

13Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that was with him. And Lot went with him to the Negev. ²Now Abram was very wealthy in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³And he went according to his journey from the Negev, then to Bethel, to the place where his tent was at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place where he had made an altar at the beginning. And Abram called on the name of Yahweh there. ⁵And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶And the land could not support them^a so as to live together, because their possessions were so many that^b they were not able to live together. ⁷And there was a quarrel between the herdsmen of the livestock of Abram and the herdsmen of the livestock of Lot. Now at that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land. ⁸Then Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there not be quarreling between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we men are brothers. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you want what is on the left, then I will go right; if you want what is on the right, I will go left.” ¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well-watered land—this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt in the direction of^c Zoar. ¹¹So^d Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan. And Lot journeyed eastward,^e and so they separated from each other.^{f 12}Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the plain. And he pitched his tent toward Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were extremely wicked sinners against Yahweh.^{g 14}And Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are to the north, and to the south, and to the east and to the west, ¹⁵for all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your descendants, forever. ¹⁶I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth which, if anyone were able to count the dust of the earth, your descendants would be so counted. ¹⁷Arise, go through the length of the land and through its breadth, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸So^h Abram pitched his tent, and he came and settled at the oaks of Mamre, which were at Hebron. And there he built an altar to Yahweh.

Abram Rescues Lot

14And it happened that in the days of Amraphel, the king of Shinar, Arioch, the king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and Tidal, the king of Goiim, ²made war with Bera, the king of Sodom, and Birsha, the king of Gomorrah, Shinab, the king of Admah, and Shemeber, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³All these joined forces at the valley of Siddim (that is, the sea of the salt). ⁴Twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El-Paran, which is at the wilderness. ⁷Then^a they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). And they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar. ⁸Then^b the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they took up battle position^c in the Valley of Siddim ⁹with Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar, four…