Genesis 11
11
The Tower of Babel
1At first everyone spoke the same language, 2but after some of them moved from the east#11.2 from the east: Or “to the east.” and settled in Babylonia,#11.2 Babylonia: See the note at 10.6-20. 3-4they said:
Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world.
5But when the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower, 6he said:
These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. 7Let's go down and confuse them! We'll make them speak different languages, and they won't be able to understand each other.
8-9So the people had to stop building the city, because the Lord confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. That's how the city of Babel#11.8,9 Babel: In Hebrew “Babel” sounds like “confused.” got its name.
The Descendants of Shem
10-11Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100, he had a son named Arpachshad. He had more children and died at the age of 600. This is a list of his descendants:
12When Arpachshad was 35, he had a son named Shelah. 13Arpachshad had more children and died at the age of 438.
14When Shelah was 30, he had a son named Eber. 15Shelah had more children and died at the age of 433.
16When Eber was 34, he had a son named Peleg. 17Eber had more children and died at the age of 464.
18When Peleg was 30, he had a son named Reu. 19Peleg had more children and died at the age of 239.
20When Reu was 32 he had a son named Serug. 21Reu had more children and died at the age of 239.
22When Serug was 30, he had a son named Nahor. 23Serug had more children and died at the age of 230.
24When Nahor was 29, he had a son named Terah. 25Nahor had more children and died at the age of 148.
The Descendants of Terah
26-28After Terah was 70 years old, he had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran, who became the father of Lot. Terah's sons were born in the city of Ur in Chaldea,#11.26-28 Ur in Chaldea: Chaldea was a region at the head of the Persian Gulf. Ur was on the main trade routes from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Sea. and Haran died there before the death of his father. The following is the story of Terah's descendants.
29-30Abram married Sarai, but she was not able to have children. And Nahor married Milcah, who was the daughter of Haran and the sister of Iscah.
31Terah decided to move from Ur to the land of Canaan. He took along Abram and Sarai and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran. But when they came to the city of Haran,#11.31 Haran: About 885 kilometers northwest of Ur. they settled there instead. 32Terah lived to be 205 years old and died in Haran.
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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