Genesis 11

The Tower of Babel

¹¹Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as they migrated from the east,^g they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{* 3}And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”^{* 5}The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.^{* 6}And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.^{* 7}Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”^{* 8}So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.^{* 9}Therefore it was called Babel,^h because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.^*

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood,^{* 11}and Shem lived after the birth of Arpachshad five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah, ¹³and Arpachshad lived after the birth of Shelah four hundred three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber, ¹⁵and Shelah lived after the birth of Eber four hundred three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg, ¹⁷and Eber lived after the birth of Peleg four hundred thirty years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu, ¹⁹and Peleg lived after the birth of Reu two hundred nine years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug, ²¹and Reu lived after the birth of Serug two hundred seven years and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor, ²³and Serug lived after the birth of Nahor two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah, ²⁵and Nahor lived after the birth of Terah one hundred nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Descendants of Terah

²⁷Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.^*

³¹Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.^{* 32}The days of Terah were two hundred five years, and Terah died in Haran.