Genesis 11

CHAPTER 11

1Forsooth the land was of one language, and of the same speech [or the same words].

2And when they went forth from the east, they found a field in the land of Shinar, and they dwelled therein.

3And one said to his neighbour, Come ye, and make we tilestones, and bake we those [or them] with fire; and they had tile for stones, and pitch, either strong glue, for mortar;

4and they said, Come ye, and make we to us a city and a tower, whose highness stretch till to heaven; and make we solemn our name, before that we be parted into all lands.

5Forsooth the Lord came down to see the city, and the tower, which the sons of Adam builded.

6And he said, Lo! the people is one, and one language is to all, and they have begun to make this; neither they shall cease of their thoughts, till they [ful] fill those [or them] in work;

7therefore come ye, go we down, and shame [or confound] we there the tongue of them, that each man hear not the voice of his neighbour.

8And so the Lord separated them from that place into all lands; and they ceased to build the city.

9And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, for the language of all [the] earth was confounded there; and from thence the Lord scattered them on the face of all countries.

10These be the generations of Shem. Shem was an hundred years when he begat Arphaxad, two years after the great flood.

11And Shem lived after that he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

12Forsooth Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah;

13and Arphaxad lived after that he begat Salah three hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

14And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber;

15and Salah lived after that he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

16Soothly Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg;

17and Eber lived after that he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

18Also Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu;

19and Peleg lived after that he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug;

21and Reu lived after that he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22Soothly Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor;

23and Serug lived after that he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24Forsooth Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah;

25and Nahor lived after that he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram#11:26 God would later change Abram’s name to Abraham., Nahor, and Haran.

27Soothly these be the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Forsooth Haran begat Lot;

28and Haran died before Terah, his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of Chaldees.

29Forsooth Abram and Nahor wedded wives; the name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah.

30Soothly Sarai was barren, and had no children.

31And so Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram, his son, and led them out of Ur of Chaldees, that they should go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelled there.

32And the days of Terah were made two hundred years and five, and he was dead in Haran.

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Genesis 11

The tower of Babel

1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As people moved eastward,#11:2 Or from the east; or in the east they found a plain in Shinar#11:2 That is, Babylonia and settled there.

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

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

8So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel#11:9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused. – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram

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

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father#11:10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25. of Arphaxad. 11And 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. 13And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.#11:12,13 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35,36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters

14When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15And 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. 17And 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. 19And 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. 21And 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. 23And 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. 25And 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, Nahor and Haran.

Abram’s family

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

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

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

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

The Holy Bible, New International Version® (Anglicised), NIV®

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