Genesis 10–12

The Table of Nations

10This is the account^b of Shem, Ham and Japheth,^c Noah’s sons,^d who themselves had sons after the flood.

The Japhethites

10:2–5pp—1Ch 1:5–7

²The sons^a of Japheth:

Gomer,^e Magog,^f Madai, Javan,^g Tubal,^h Meshekⁱ and Tiras.

³The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz,^j Riphath and Togarmah.^k

⁴The sons of Javan:

Elishah,^l Tarshish,^m the Kittitesⁿ and the Rodanites.^{b 5}(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)^o

The Hamites

10:6–20pp—1Ch 1:8–16

⁶The sons of Ham:

Cush,^p Egypt, Put^q and Canaan.^r

⁷The sons of Cush:

Seba,^s Havilah,^t Sabtah, Raamah^u and Sabteka.

The sons of Raamah:

Sheba^v and Dedan.^w

⁸Cush was the father^c of Nimrod,^x who became a mighty warrior on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty^y hunter^z before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon,^a Uruk,^b Akkad and Kalneh,^c in^d Shinar.^{ed 11}From that land he went to Assyria,^e where he built Nineveh,^f Rehoboth Ir,^f Calah ¹²and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

¹³Egypt was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines^g came) and Caphtorites.^h

¹⁵Canaanⁱ was the father of

Sidon^j his firstborn,^gk and of the Hittites,^{l 16}Jebusites,^m Amorites,ⁿ Girgashites,^{o 17}Hivites,^p Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites,^q Zemarites and Hamathites.^r

Later the Canaanite^s clans scattered ¹⁹and the borders of Canaan^t reached from Sidon^u toward Gerar^v as far as Gaza,^w and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim,^x as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

The Semites

10:21–31pp—Ge 11:10–27; 1Ch 1:17–27

²¹Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was^h Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.^y

²²The sons of Shem:

Elam,^z Ashur,^a Arphaxad,^b Lud and Aram.^c

²³The sons of Aram:

Uz,^d Hul, Gether and Meshek.ⁱ

²⁴Arphaxad was the father of^j Shelah,

and Shelah the father of Eber.^e

²⁵Two sons were born to Eber:

One was named Peleg,^k because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

²⁶Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal,^f Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba,^{g 29}Ophir,^h Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

³⁰The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

³¹These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

³²These are the clans of Noah’s sons,ⁱ according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth^j after the flood.

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.

The Call of Abram

12The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household^d to the land^e I will show you.^f

²“I will make you into a great nation,^g

and I will bless you;^h

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.^ai

³I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;^j

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.^k”^b

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot^l went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old^m when he set out from Harran.^{n 5}He took his wife Sarai,^o his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated^p and the people^q they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,^r and they arrived there.

⁶Abram traveled through the land^s as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh^t at Shechem.^u At that time the Canaanites^v were in the land. ⁷The Lord appeared to Abram^w and said, “To your offspring^c I will give this land.^x”^y So he built an altar there to the Lord,^z who had appeared to him.

⁸From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel^a and pitched his tent,^b with Bethel on the west and Ai^c on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.^d

⁹Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.^e

Abram in Egypt

12:10–20Ref—Ge 20:1–18; 26:1–11

¹⁰Now there was a famine in the land,^f and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.^{g 11}As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai,^h “I know what a beautiful womanⁱ you are. ¹²When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³Say you are my sister,^j so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.^{k 15}And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. ¹⁶He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.^l

¹⁷But the Lord inflicted^m serious diseases on Pharaoh and his householdⁿ because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?”^o he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?^{p 19}Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’^q so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.