Genesis 10:1–11:9

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.