Genesis 10:1–11:9

Descendants of Noah

¹Now these are the records of 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 language, according to their families, into their nations.

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

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

⁸Now Cush ¹became the father of Nimrod; he ²became a mighty one on the earth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁵Canaan ¹became 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 spread abroad.

^19aThe territory 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 languages, 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 ¹became the father of ^aShelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.

^25aTwo 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.

²⁶Joktan ¹became 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 languages, by their lands, according to their nations.

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

Chapter 11

Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

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

²It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land ^aof Shinar and ¹settled there.

³They 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.

⁴They 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.”

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

⁶The 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 speech.”

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

⁹Therefore 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.