Genesis 11
11
People tried to build a tall building called Babel
1You know, at first everyone talked the same language. 2And as people moved from place to place in the east, they got to some flat country in Babylonia, and they stayed there. 3-4Then they said to each other, “Look, we can make bricks here. So come on, let’s do that. We will bake them properly so that they are good strong bricks, and we will use them to build a city here. So come on, let’s build a big tall building in that city. It will be so tall that it will go right up into the sky.” You see, they had bricks and tar instead of stones and cement. And they said, “If we do that, everyone will think we are smart. Then we will not go and live all over the earth, but we will stay together right here.”
God made people talk in different languages
5So the people started to build a city and a really tall building, and God came down to look at those things. 6He said, “These people can all talk to each other in the same language, so they can do anything they want. If they keep on going this way, nothing will stop them from doing anything. 7Come on, let’s go down to these people, and we will make them talk in different languages. Then they will not understand each other, and they will be all mixed up. They will not work things out with each other, so they will not keep on building this city.”
8So God made all the people talk in different languages. None of them could understand anything the other people were saying. So they stopped building their big city. 9They all left that city and went to live in lots of different places, all over the world. That’s how God got people to be in different tribes all over the world. And they called that city Babel. That means mixed up. They gave it that name because God mixed up their languages at that time.
The story of Shem’s family
10This is the story about Shem’s family.
Shem was 100 years old when he had a son called Arfaxad. That was 2 years after the big flood. 11Shem lived for 500 years after he had Arfaxad, and he had more sons and daughters.
12Arfaxad was 35 years old when he had a son called Shelah. 13Arfaxad lived for 403 years after he had Shelah, and he had more sons and daughters.#Genesis 10:24; Luke 3:35-36
14Shelah was 30 years old when he had a son called Eber. 15Shelah lived for 403 years after he had Eber, and he had more sons and daughters.
16Eber was 34 years old when he had a son called Peleg. 17Eber lived for 430 years after he had Peleg, and he had more sons and daughters.
18Peleg was 30 years old when he had a son called Reyu. 19Peleg lived for 209 years after he had Reyu, and he had more sons and daughters.
20Reyu was 32 years old when he had a son called Serug. 21Reyu lived for 207 years after he had Serug, and he had more sons and daughters.
22Serug was 30 years old when he had a son called Nahor. 23Serug lived for 200 years after he had Nahor, and he had more sons and daughters.
24Nahor was 29 years old when he had a son called Terah. 25Nahor lived for 119 years after he had Terah, and he had more sons and daughters.
26Terah had 3 sons after he was 70 years old. Their names were Abram, Nahor and Haran.
The story of Terah’s family
27This is the story about Terah’s family. Terah had 3 sons, called Abram, and Nahor, and Haran.
Haran had a son called Lot. 28-29And he also had 2 daughters called Milcah and Iscah. After that, Haran died, while his father, Terah, was still alive. He died in Ur, in Chaldia country, the place where he was born.
Nahor, Haran’s brother, married Milcah. And Abram married a woman called Sarai, 30but Abram and Sarai didn’t have any kids. Sarai just couldn’t have a baby.
31Then Terah went away from Ur, in Chaldia country, and he took some of his family with him. They were his son Abram, and Abram’s wife Sarai, and his grand-son Lot. They all left Ur, and they started to go to the country called Canaan. But they stopped half-way, at a place called Haran, and they stayed there.
32Terah lived until he was 205 years old. Then he died there in Haran.
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Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babel
(Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 2:1–13)
1Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. 2And as people journeyed eastward,#11:2 Or from the east or in the east they found a plain in the land of Shinar #11:2 That is, Babylonia and settled there.
3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
4“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
5Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. 6And the Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. 7Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8So the Lord scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it is called Babel,#11:9 Or Babylon; the Hebrew word for Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused. for there the Lord confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the Lord scattered them over the face of all the earth.
Genealogy from Shem to Abram
(1 Chronicles 1:17–27)
10This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. 11And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. 13And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.#11:13 Hebrew; LXX (see also Luke 3:35–36) 12 When Arphaxad was 135 years old, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he had become 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 had become the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters. Note that LXX also adds 100 years to the ages of Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, and Nahor in this genealogy.
14When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. 15And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. 17And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. 19And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Terah’s Descendants
27This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. 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. 30But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. 32Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
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