Genesis 11

11 ¹Now the whole earth had one language and a common speech. ²And as they migrated eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and fire them hard." They used brick for stone, tar for mortar. ⁴Then they said, "Come, let's build us a city and tower with its top in the sky, and make us a name, so we don't scatter over the face of the whole earth."

⁵But our Father came down to see the city and the tower that the people were building. ^a a v5 Our Father, who is everywhere, is described as "coming down" — human language for his drawing near to act.

⁶And our Father said, "Look, they are one people with one language, and this is only the start of what they will do. Now nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let's go down there and scramble their language, so no one understands a neighbor's language."

⁸So our Father scattered them from there across all the earth's face, and they stopped building the city. ⁹So it was called Babel, for there our Father confused all the earth's language, and from there scattered them over all the earth's face. ^b b v9 The name Babel sounds like "confused" — marking the place where our Father confused human language.

Shem's Line

¹⁰This is Shem's account: at 100, he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood. ¹¹Shem lived 500 years after he fathered Arpachshad, and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah had lived thirty years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived thirty years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he fathered Serug. ²¹Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived thirty years, he fathered Nahor. ²³Serug lived 200 years after he fathered Nahor, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶When Terah had lived seventy years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah's Family

²⁷Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸Haran died in his birthplace, Ur of the Chaldeans, before his father Terah. ²⁹Abram and Nahor married; Abram's wife was Sarai, and Nahor's wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. ³⁰Now Sarai was unable to conceive; she had no children. ³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, Abram's wife, and left Ur of the Chaldeans for Canaan; they reached Haran and settled there. ³²Terah lived 205 years, and died in Haran.