Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babel
1At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia#11:2 Hebrew Shinar. and settled there.
3They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
5But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6“Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
8In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why the city was called Babel,#11:9 Or Babylon. Babel sounds like a Hebrew term that means “confusion.” because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
The Line of Descent from Shem to Abram
10This is the account of Shem’s family.
Two years after the great flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of#11:10 Or the ancestor of; also in 11:12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24. Arphaxad. 11After the birth of#11:11 Or the birth of this ancestor of; also in 11:13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25. Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. 13After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.#11:12-13 Greek version reads 12When Arphaxad was 135 years old, he became the father of Cainan. 13After the birth of Cainan, Arphaxad lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan was 130 years old, he became the father of Shelah. After the birth of Shelah, Cainan lived another 330 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. Compare Luke 3:35-36.
14When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. 15After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. 17After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. 19After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Family of Terah
27This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. 29Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) 30But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.
31One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32Terah lived for 205 years#11:32 Some ancient versions read 145 years; compare 11:26 and 12:4. and died while still in Haran.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Genesis 11
11
1And the whole earth is of one pronunciation, and of the same words,
2and it cometh to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwell there;
3and they say each one to his neighbour, ‘Give help, let us make bricks, and burn [them] thoroughly:’ and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen hath been to them for mortar.
4And they say, ‘Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.’
5And Jehovah cometh down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have builded;
6and Jehovah saith, ‘Lo, the people [is] one, and one pronunciation [is] to them all, and this it hath dreamed of doing; and now, nothing is restrained from them of that which they have purposed to do.
7Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.’
8And Jehovah doth scatter them from thence over the face of all the earth, and they cease to build the city;
9therefore hath [one] called its name Babel, for there hath Jehovah mingled the pronunciation of all the earth, and from thence hath Jehovah scattered them over the face of all the earth.
10These [are] births of Shem: Shem [is] a son of an hundred years, and begetteth Arphaxad two years after the deluge.
11And Shem liveth after his begetting Arphaxad five hundred years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
12And Arphaxad hath lived five and thirty years, and begetteth Salah.
13And Arphaxad liveth after his begetting Salah four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
14And Salah hath lived thirty years, and begetteth Eber.
15And Salah liveth after his begetting Eber four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
16And Eber liveth four and thirty years, and begetteth Peleg.
17And Eber liveth after his begetting Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
18And Peleg liveth thirty years, and begetteth Reu.
19And Peleg liveth after his begetting Reu two hundred and nine years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
20And Reu liveth two and thirty years, and begetteth Serug.
21And Reu liveth after his begetting Serug two hundred and seven years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
22And Serug liveth thirty years, and begetteth Nahor.
23And Serug liveth after his begetting Nahor two hundred years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
24And Nahor liveth nine and twenty years, and begetteth Terah.
25And Nahor liveth after his begetting Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begetteth sons and daughters.
26And Terah liveth seventy years, and begetteth Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27And these [are] births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot;
28and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.
29And Abram and Nahor take to themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife [is] Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife [is] Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah.
30And Sarai is barren — she hath no child.
31And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there.
32And the days of Terah are two hundred and five years, and Terah dieth in Charan.
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