11Genesis 11

The Tower of Babylon

1At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words.Select Genesis 11:1

2As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there.Select Genesis 11:2

3They said to one another, “Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them hard.” So they had bricks to build with and tar to hold them together.Select Genesis 11:3

4They said, “Now let's build a city with a tower that reaches the sky, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”Select Genesis 11:4

5Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which they had built,Select Genesis 11:5

6and he said, “Now then, these are all one people and they speak one language; this is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want!Select Genesis 11:6

7Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other.”Select Genesis 11:7

8So the Lord scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city.Select Genesis 11:8

9The city was called Babylon, because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.Select Genesis 11:9

The Descendants of Shem

10These are the descendants of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he had a son, Arpachshad.Select Genesis 11:10

11After that, he lived another 500 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:11

12When Arpachshad was 35 years old, he had a son, Shelah;Select Genesis 11:12

13after that, he lived another 403 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:13

14When Shelah was 30 years old, he had a son, Eber;Select Genesis 11:14

15after that, he lived another 403 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:15

16When Eber was 34 years old, he had a son, Peleg;Select Genesis 11:16

17after that, he lived another 430 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:17

18When Peleg was 30 years old, he had a son, Reu;Select Genesis 11:18

19after that, he lived another 209 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:19

20When Reu was 32 years old, he had a son, Serug;Select Genesis 11:20

21after that, he lived another 207 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:21

22When Serug was 30 years old, he had a son, Nahor;Select Genesis 11:22

23after that, he lived another 200 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:23

24When Nahor was 29 years old, he had a son, Terah;Select Genesis 11:24

25after that, he lived another 119 years and had other children.Select Genesis 11:25

26After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.Select Genesis 11:26

The Descendants of Terah

27These are the descendants of Terah, who was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot,Select Genesis 11:27

28and Haran died in his hometown of Ur in Babylonia, while his father was still living.Select Genesis 11:28

29Abram married Sarai, and Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah.Select Genesis 11:29

30Sarai was not able to have children.Select Genesis 11:30

31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, who was the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, Abram's wife, and with them he left the city of Ur in Babylonia to go to the land of Canaan. They went as far as Haran and settled there.Select Genesis 11:31

32Terah died there at the age of 205.Select Genesis 11:32