Genesis 11

The Tower of Babel

11Now the whole world had one language^k and a common speech. ²As people moved eastward,^a they found a plain in Shinar^bl and settled there.

³They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks^m and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,ⁿ and tar^o for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,^p so that we may make a name^q for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered^r over the face of the whole earth.”^s

⁵But the Lord came down^t to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language^u they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us^v go down^w and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”^x

⁸So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,^y and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it was called Babel^cz—because there the Lord confused the language^a of the whole world.^b From there the Lord scattered^c them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram

11:10–27pp—Ge 10:21–31; 1Ch 1:17–27

¹⁰This is the account^d of Shem’s family line.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father^d of Arphaxad.^{e 11}And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.^{f 13}And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.^e

¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.^{g 15}And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.^{h 17}And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.^{i 19}And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.^{j 21}And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.^{k 23}And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.^{l 25}And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram,^m Nahorⁿ and Haran.^o

Abram’s Family

²⁷This is the account^p of Terah’s family line.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor^q and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.^{r 28}While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans,^s in the land of his birth. ²⁹Abram and Nahor^t both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,^u and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah;^v she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.^w

³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot^x son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law^y Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans^z to go to Canaan.^a But when they came to Harran,^b they settled there.

³²Terah^c lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.