Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanites. ⁵The people who lived by the sea came from all of them. Their tribes and nations spread out into their own territories. Each tribe and nation had its own language.

The Sons of Ham

⁶The sons of Ham were

Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush were

Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah were

Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush was the father of Nimrod. Nimrod grew up to be a mighty hero on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter in the Lord’s eyes. That’s why people sometimes compare others with Nimrod. They say, “They are like Nimrod, who is a mighty hunter in the Lord’s eyes.”

¹⁰At first Nimrod’s kingdom was made up of Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh. Those cities were in the land of Babylonia.

¹¹From that land he went to Assyria. There he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir and Calah. ¹²He also built Resen. It is between Nineveh and Calah. Nineveh is the great city.

¹³Egypt was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites and Naphtuhites. ¹⁴He was also the father of the Pathrusites, Casluhites and Caphtorites. The Philistines came from the Casluhites.

¹⁵Canaan was the father of

Sidon. Sidon was his oldest son. Canaan was also the father of the Hittites, ¹⁶Jebusites, Amorites and Girgashites. ¹⁷And he was the father of the Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Later the Canaanite tribes scattered. ¹⁹The borders of Canaan went from Sidon toward Gerar all the way to Gaza. Then they went toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim all the way to Lasha.

²⁰Those are the sons of Ham. They are listed by their tribes and languages in their territories and nations.

The Sons of Shem

²¹Sons were also born to Shem. Shem was Japheth’s younger brother. All of the sons of Eber came from Shem.

²²The sons of Shem were

Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

²³The sons of Aram were

Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech.

²⁴Arphaxad was the father of Shelah.

Shelah was the father of Eber.

²⁵Eber was the father of two sons.

One was named Peleg. That’s because the earth was divided up in his time. His brother was named Joktan.

²⁶Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth and Jerah. ²⁷He was also the father of Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All of them were sons of Joktan.

³⁰The area where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar. It was in the eastern hill country.

³¹Those are the sons of Shem. They are listed by their tribes and languages in their territories and nations.

³²Those are the tribes of Noah’s sons. They are listed by their family lines within their nations. From them the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11The whole world had only one language. All people spoke it. ²They moved to the east and found a broad valley in Babylonia. There they settled down.

³They said to each other, “Come. Let’s make bricks and bake them well.” They used bricks instead of stones. They used tar to hold the bricks together.

⁴Then they said, “Come. Let’s build a city for ourselves. Let’s build a tower that reaches to the sky. We’ll make a name for ourselves. Then we won’t be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶The Lord said, “They are one people. And all of them speak the same language. That is why they can do this. Now they will be able to do anything they plan to. ⁷Come. Let us go down and mix up their language. Then they will not understand each other.”

⁸So the Lord scattered them from there over the whole earth. And they stopped building the city. ⁹The Lord mixed up the language of the whole world there. That’s why the city was named Babel. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The Family Line of Shem

¹⁰Here is the story of Shem.

It was two years after the flood. When Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. ¹¹After Arphaxad was born, Shem lived 500 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³After Shelah was born, Arphaxad lived 403 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷After Peleg was born, Eber lived 430 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹After Reu was born, Peleg lived 209 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹After Serug was born, Reu lived 207 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³After Nahor was born, Serug lived 200 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵After Terah was born, Nahor lived 119 years. And he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶Terah lived for 70 years. Then he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

²⁷Here is the story of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸Haran died in Ur in Babylonia. That was the land where he had been born. Haran died while his father Terah was still alive.

²⁹Abram and Nahor both got married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. The name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰But Sarai wasn’t able to have children.

³¹Terah started out from Ur in Babylonia. He took his son Abram with him. He also took his grandson Lot. Lot was the son of Haran. And Terah took his daughter-in-law Sarai. She was the wife of his son Abram.

All of them left together to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled down.

³²Terah lived for 205 years. He died in Haran.

God Chooses Abram

12The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country and your people. Leave your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you.

²“I will make you into a great nation.

I will bless you.

I will make your name great.

You will be a blessing to others.

³I will bless those who bless you.

I will put a curse on anyone who calls down a curse on you.

All nations on earth

will be blessed because of you.”

⁴So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

⁵He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot. They took all of the things they had gotten in Haran. They also took the workers they had gotten there.

They set out for the land of Canaan. And they arrived there.

⁶Abram traveled through the land. He went as far as the large tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the people of Canaan were living in the land.

⁷The Lord appeared to Abram at Shechem. He said, “I will give this land to your children after you.” So Abram built an altar there to honor the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸From there, Abram went on toward the hills east of Bethel. He set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east.

Abram built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. ⁹Then Abram left and continued toward the Negev Desert.

Abram Goes to Egypt

¹⁰At that time there wasn’t enough food in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while.

¹¹As he was about to enter Egypt, he spoke to his wife Sarai. He said, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹²The people of Egypt will see you. They will say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they will kill me. But they will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister. Then I’ll be treated well because of you. My life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴Abram arrived in Egypt. The people of Egypt saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. ¹⁵When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they bragged to Pharaoh about her. Sarai was taken into his palace.

¹⁶Pharaoh treated Abram well because of her. So Abram gained more sheep and cattle. He also got more male and female donkeys. And he gained more male and female servants and some camels.

¹⁷But the Lord sent terrible sicknesses on Pharaoh and everyone in his palace. He did it because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

¹⁸So Pharaoh sent for Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’? That’s why I took her to be my wife. Now then, here’s your wife. Take her and go!”

²⁰Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men. They sent him on his way. He left with his wife and everything he had.

Read in Logos