Genesis 11

¹ Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary.

² Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar[*b] where they settled.

³ They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire’.-For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen.-

⁴ ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’

⁵ Now Yahweh came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built.

⁶ ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said Yahweh. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do.

⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’

⁸ Yahweh scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town.

⁹ It was named Babel therefore, because there Yahweh confused[*c] the language of the whole earth. It was from there that Yahweh scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

¹⁰ These are Shem’s descendants: When Shem was a hundred years old he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood.

¹¹ After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived five hundred years and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old he became the father of Shelah.

¹³ After the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah was thirty years old he became the father of Eber.

¹⁵ After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and three years and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber was thirty-four years old he became the father of Peleg.

¹⁷ After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg was thirty years old he became the father of Reu.

¹⁹ After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and became the father of sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu was thirty-two years old he became the father of Serug.

²¹ After the birth of Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and became the father of sons and daughters.

²² When Serug was thirty years old he became the father of Nahor.

²³ After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and became the father of sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor was twenty-nine years old he became the father of Terah.

²⁵ After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years and became the father of sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah was seventy years old he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

²⁷ These are Terah’s descendants: Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot.

²⁸ Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in his native land, Ur of the Chaldaeans.

²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married: Abram’s wife was called Sarai, Nahor’s wife was called Milcah, the daughter of Haran, father of Milcah and Iscah.

³⁰ Sarai was barren, having no child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law the wife of Abram, and made them leave Ur of the Chaldaeans to go to the land of Canaan. But on arrival in Haran they settled there.[*d]

³² Terah’s life lasted two hundred and five years; then he died at Haran.