Genesis 11:1–12:20
Universal Language, Babel, Confusion
1 Now the whole earth 1used the same language and 2the same words.
2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land aof Shinar and 1settled there.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used atar for mortar.
4 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, otherwise we cwill be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 aThe Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have 1athe same language. And this is what they began to do, and 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 1speech.”
8 So the Lord ascattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called 1aBabel, because there the Lord confused the 2language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
10 aThese are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and 1became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.
12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah;
13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.
14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber;
15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg;
17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu;
19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug;
21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor;
23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of aTerah;
25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.
26 Terah lived seventy years, and became athe father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and aHaran became the father of bLot.
28 Haran died 1in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in aUr of the Chaldeans.
29 Abram 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 1and Iscah.
30 aSarai was barren; she had no child.
31 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 enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and 2settled there.
32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
1 Now athe Lord said to Abram,
“1Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And aI will make you a great nation,
And bI will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so 1cyou shall be a blessing;
3 And 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.”
4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and aLot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their apossessions which they had accumulated, and bthe 1persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they 2set out for the land of Canaan; cthus they came to the land of Canaan.
6 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.
7 The Lord aappeared to Abram and said, “bTo your 1descendants I will give this land.” So he built can altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with aBethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and bcalled upon the name of the Lord.
9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward athe 1Negev.
10 Now there was aa famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was bsevere in the land.
11 It came about when he 1came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a 2abeautiful woman;
12 aand when the Egyptians see you, 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.”
14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians 1saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and athe woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 Therefore ahe treated Abram well for her sake; and 1bgave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.
17 But the Lord astruck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 Then 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 my wife? Now then, 1here is your wife, take her and go.”
20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they 1escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.