11:1 The whole earth1 had a common language and a common vocabulary.2 11:2 When the people3 moved eastward,4 they found a plain in Shinar5 and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another,6 “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.”7 (They had brick instead of stone and tar8 instead of mortar.)9 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens10 so that11 we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise12 we will be scattered13 across the face of the entire earth.”
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people14 had started15 building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language16 they have begun to do this, then17 nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.18 11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse19 their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”20
11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building21 the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called22 Babel23—because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
The Genealogy of Shem
11:10 This is the account of Shem.
Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years and had other24 sons and daughters.
11:12 When Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah. 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years and had other25 sons and daughters.26
11:14 When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber. 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and three years and had other27 sons and daughters.
11:16 When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg. 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.
11:18 When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu. 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.
11:20 When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug. 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.
11:22 When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor. 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
11:24 When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah. 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.
11:26 When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Record of Terah
11:27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans,28 while his father Terah was still alive.29 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,30 and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah;31 she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 11:32 The lifetime32 of Terah was two hundred and five years, and he33 died in Haran.
The Obedience of Abram