Genesis 11:1-31 ▼

1 And all the earth had one language and one speech.

2 And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 And they said, each man to his brother, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them for burning.” And the brick was to them for stone, and the tar was to them for the mortar.

4 And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, and its top in the heavens, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

5 And YHWH came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built.

6 And YHWH said, “Behold, the people are one, and one language is to them all, and this they have begun to do. And now nothing will be restrained from them of all that they devise to do.

7 Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language, so that one man may not understand the language of his companion.”

8 And YHWH scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased to build the city.

9 Upon thus its name is called Babel, for there YHWH confused the language of all the earth, and from there YHWH scattered them over the face of all the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a son of a hundred years, and he begat Arphaxad two years after the flood.

11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and he begat Shelah.

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Shelah three years and four hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

14 And Shelah lived thirty years, and he begat Eber.

15 And Shelah lived after he begat Eber three years and four hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and he begat Peleg.

17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg thirty years and four hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and he begat Reu.

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu nine years and two hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and he begat Serug.

21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug seven years and two hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and he begat Nahor.

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and he begat Terah.

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah nine and ten years and a hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and he begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begat Lot.

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

29 And Abram and Nahor took for themselves wives; the name of the wife of Abram was Sarai; and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot son of Haran, the son of his son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they came as far as Haran and they dwelt there.