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®)

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Genesis 11

Tower of Babel

1Now the entire earth had the same language with the same vocabulary.

2When they traveled eastward, they found a valley-plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

3They said to one another, “Come! Let’s make bricks and bake them until they’re hard.” So they used bricks for stone, and tar for mortar.

4Then they said, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.”

5Then Adonai came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built.

6Adonai said, “Look, the people are one and all of them have the same language. So this is what they have begun to do. Now, nothing they plan to do will be impossible.

7Come! Let Us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand each other’s language.”

8So Adonai scattered them from there over the face of the entire land, and they stopped building the city.

9This is why it is named Babel, because Adonai confused the languages of the entire world there, and from there Adonai scattered them over the face of the entire world.

From Shem to Abram

10These are the genealogical records of Shem: Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpachshad—two years after the flood.

11Shem lived 500 years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered sons and daughters.

12Arpachshad lived 35 years when he fathered Shelah.

13Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and fathered sons and daughters.

14Shelah lived 30 years and he fathered Eber.

15Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and fathered sons and daughters.

16Eber lived 34 years and he fathered Peleg.

17Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered sons and daughters.

18Peleg lived 30 years and he fathered Reu.

19Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered sons and daughters.

20Reu lived 32 years and he fathered Serug.

21Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered sons and daughters.

22Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor.

23Serug lived 200 years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered sons and daughters.

24Nahor lived 27 years and he fathered Terah.

25Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered sons and daughters.

26Terah lived 70 years when he fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran.

27These are Terah’s genealogies: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran fathered Lot.

28Haran died before Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah—the daughter of Haran, father of Milcah and Iscah.

30Sarai was barren; she did not have a child.

31Terah took Abram his son and Lot, Haran’s son, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and he took them out of Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

32Terah’s days were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

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Genesis 11

Genesis 11