The Languages Confused

11 At this time the whole world spoke one language, and everyone used the same words. 2 As people moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Let’s make bricks and bake them to make them hard.” So they used bricks instead of stones, and tar instead of mortar. 4 Then they said to each other, “Let’s build a city and a tower for ourselves, whose top will reach high into the sky. We will become famous. Then we will not be scattered over all the earth.”

5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6 The Lord said, “Now, these people are united, all speaking the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. They will be able to do anything they want. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not be able to understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 The place is called Babel n since that is where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. So the Lord caused them to spread out from there over the whole world.

The Story of Shem’s Family

10 This is the family history of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, his son Arphaxad was born. 11 After that, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, his son Shelah was born. 13 After that, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

14 When Shelah was 30 years old, his son Eber was born. 15 After that, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber was 34 years old, his son Peleg was born. 17 After that, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

18 When Peleg was 30 years old, his son Reu was born. 19 After that, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu was 32 years old, his son Serug was born. 21 After that, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug was 30 years old, his son Nahor was born. 23 After that, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

24 When Nahor was 29 years old, his son Terah was born. 25 After that, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

26 After Terah was 70 years old, his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran were born.

The Story of Terah’s Family

27 This is the family history of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. 28 While his father, Terah, was still alive, Haran died in Ur in Babylonia, where he was born. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai was not able to have children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife) and moved out of Ur of Babylonia. They had planned to go to the land of Canaan, but when they reached the city of Haran, they settled there.

32 Terah lived to be 205 years old, and then he died in Haran.

God Calls Abram

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

2  I will make you a great nation,

and I will bless you.

I will make you famous,

and you will be a blessing to others.

3  I will bless those who bless you,

and I will place a curse on those who harm you.

And all the people on earth

will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.

6 Abram traveled through that land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and worshiped him. 9 After this, he traveled on toward southern Canaan.

Abram Goes to Egypt

10 At this time there was not much food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because there was so little food. 11 Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. 13 Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you.”

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. 15 The Egyptian officers saw her and told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was. They took her to the king’s palace, and 16 the king was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was her brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

17 But the Lord sent terrible diseases on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So the king sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and leave!” 20 Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.

Abram and Lot Separate

13 So Abram, his wife, and Lot left Egypt, taking everything they owned, and traveled to southern Canaan. 2 Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.

3 He left southern Canaan and went back to Bethel where he had camped before, between Bethel and Ai, 4 and where he had built an altar. So he worshiped the Lord there.

5 During this time Lot was traveling with Abram, and Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together, 7 so Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen began to argue. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at this time.

8 Abram said to Lot, “There should be no arguing between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, because we are brothers. 9 We should separate. The whole land is there in front of you. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

10 Lot looked all around and saw the whole Jordan Valley and that there was much water there. It was like the Lord’s garden, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose to move east and live in the Jordan Valley. In this way Abram and Lot separated. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived among the cities in the Jordan Valley, very near to Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were very evil and were always sinning against the Lord.

14 After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look all around you—to the north and south and east and west. 15 All this land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. 16 I will make your descendants as many as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust on the earth, he could count your people. 17 Get up! Walk through all this land because I am now giving it to you.”

18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.