Genesis 11

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.