Genesis 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.

Genesis 11

The Tower of Babylon

1At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words. 2As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there. 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. 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.”

5Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which they had built, 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! 7Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other.” 8So the Lord scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9The city was called Babylon,#11.9: Babylon: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “mixed up.” because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.

The Descendants of Shem

(1 Chronicles 1.24-27)

10These are the descendants of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he had a son, Arpachshad. 11After that, he lived another 500 years and had other children.

12When Arpachshad was 35 years old, he had a son, Shelah; 13after that, he lived another 403 years and had other children.

14When Shelah was 30 years old, he had a son, Eber; 15after that, he lived another 403 years and had other children.

16When Eber was 34 years old, he had a son, Peleg; 17after that, he lived another 430 years and had other children.

18When Peleg was 30 years old, he had a son, Reu; 19after that, he lived another 209 years and had other children.

20When Reu was 32 years old, he had a son, Serug; 21after that, he lived another 207 years and had other children.

22When Serug was 30 years old, he had a son, Nahor; 23after that, he lived another 200 years and had other children.

24When Nahor was 29 years old, he had a son, Terah; 25after that, he lived another 119 years and had other children.

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

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, 28and Haran died in his hometown of Ur in Babylonia, while his father was still living. 29Abram married Sarai, and Nahor married Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. 30Sarai was not able to have children.

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. 32Terah died there at the age of 205.

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Genesis 11

Genesis 11