Genesis 10–12

CHAPTER 10

The Generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth

¹Now these are the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.

^2aThe sons of Japheth were ^bGomer and Magog and ^cMadai and ^dJavan and Tubal and ^eMeshech and Tiras.

³The sons of Gomer were ^aAshkenaz and ¹Riphath and ^bTogarmah.

⁴The sons of Javan were Elishah and ^aTarshish, Kittim and ¹Dodanim.

⁵From these the coastlands of the nations ¹were separated into their lands, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, into their nations.

^6aThe sons of Ham were Cush and ¹Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush were ^aSeba and Havilah and Sabtah and ^bRaamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were ^cSheba and ^dDedan.

⁸Now Cush ¹was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.

⁹He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.”

¹⁰The beginning of his kingdom was ^1aBabel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of ^bShinar.

¹¹From that land he went out ^ato Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,

¹²and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

¹³Mizraim ¹was the father of ^aLudim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim

¹⁴and ^aPathrusim and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

¹⁵Canaan ¹was the father of ^aSidon, his firstborn, and ^bHeth

¹⁶and ^athe Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite

¹⁷and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite

¹⁸and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were scattered.

^19aThe border of the Canaanite ¹extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward ^bSodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, by their nations.

²¹Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the ¹older brother of Japheth, children were born.

^22aThe sons of Shem were ^bElam and Asshur and ^cArpachshad and ^dLud and Aram.

²³The sons of Aram were ^aUz and Hul and Gether and Mash.

²⁴Arpachshad ¹was the father of ^aShelah; and Shelah ²was the father of Eber.

^25aNow two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was ¹Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

²⁶And Joktan ¹was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah

²⁷and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah

²⁸and ¹Obal and Abimael and Sheba

²⁹and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

³⁰Now their ¹settlement ²extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.

³¹These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, according to their nations.

³²These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, by their nations; and ^aout of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

CHAPTER 11

The Tower of Babel

¹Now the whole earth ¹had the same language and ²the same words.

²And it happened as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land ^aof Shinar and ¹settled there.

³Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had ^atar for mortar.

⁴And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top ^awill reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves ^ba name, lest we ^cbe scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

^5aThen Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

⁶And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have ^1athe same language. And this is what they have begun to do. So now nothing which they purpose to do will be ²impossible for them.

⁷“Come, ^alet Us go down and there ^bconfuse their ¹language, so that they will not understand one another’s ²language.”

⁸So Yahweh ^ascattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

⁹Therefore its name was called ^1aBabel, because there Yahweh confused the ²language of the whole earth; and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The Generations of Shem

^10aThese are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old and ¹became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;

¹¹and Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹²And Arpachshad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah;

¹³and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹⁴And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber;

¹⁵and Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹⁶And Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg;

¹⁷and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹⁸And Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Reu;

¹⁹and Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Reu, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

²⁰And Reu lived 32 years and became the father of Serug;

²¹and Reu lived 207 years after he became the father of Serug, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

²²And Serug lived 30 years and became the father of Nahor;

²³and Serug lived 200 years after he became the father of Nahor, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

²⁴Nahor lived 29 years and became the father of ^aTerah;

²⁵and Nahor lived 119 years after he became the father of Terah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

²⁶And Terah lived 70 years and became ^athe father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Generations of Terah

²⁷Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and ^aHaran became the father of ^bLot.

²⁸And Haran died ¹in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in ^aUr of the Chaldeans.

²⁹Abram and ^aNahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was ^bSarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was ^cMilcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

^30aAnd Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹And Terah took 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 out ¹together from ^aUr of the Chaldeans in order to go to the land of Canaan; and they came as far as Haran and ²settled there.

³²And the days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

CHAPTER 12

Yahweh Appears to Abram

¹And ^aYahweh said to Abram,

“¹Go forth from your land,

And from your kin

And from your father’s house,

To the land which I will show you;

²And ^aI will make you a great nation,

And ^bI will bless you,

And make your name great;

And so ^1cyou shall be a blessing;

³And ^aI will bless those who bless you,

And the one who ¹curses you I will ²curse.

^bAnd in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

⁴So Abram went forth as Yahweh had spoken to him; and ^aLot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

⁵So Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their ^apossessions which they had accumulated, and ^bthe ¹persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go forth to the land of Canaan; ^cthus they came to the land of Canaan.

⁶And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of ^aShechem, to the ¹oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.

⁷Then Yahweh ^aappeared to Abram and said, “^bTo your seed I will give this land.” So he built ^can altar there to Yahweh who had appeared to him.

⁸Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with ^aBethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to Yahweh and ^bcalled upon the name of Yahweh.

⁹And Abram journeyed on, continuing toward ^athe ¹Negev.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰Now there was ^aa famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was ^bsevere in the land.

¹¹And it happened as he drew near to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Now behold, I know that you are a woman ^abeautiful in appearance;

^12aand it will be when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

¹³“Please say that you are ^amy sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that ^1bI may live on account of you.”

¹⁴Now it happened when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians ¹saw that the woman was very beautiful.

¹⁵And Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and ^athe woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁶Therefore ^ahe treated Abram well because of her; and sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels ^1bcame into his possession.

¹⁷But Yahweh ^astruck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

¹⁸Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “^aWhat is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

¹⁹“Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? So now, ¹here is your wife, take her and go.”

²⁰So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they ¹sent him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.