Old Testament · Genesis

Genesis 11

The Tower of Babel

(Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 2:1–13)

1And the whole earth was of one language and the same words. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there.

3And they said, each man^a to his neighbor, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And the brick was to them for stone, and the bitumen was to them for mortar.

4And 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 upon the face of all the earth."

5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of man^b had built. 6And the LORD said, "Behold, one people, and one language for all of them; and this they begin to do, and now nothing will be withheld from them which they purpose to do. 7Come, let us go down, and confound there their language, that they may not understand, each man the language of his neighbor."

8And the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased to build the city. 9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confounded the language of all the earth, and from there the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

Genealogy from Shem to Abram

(1 Chronicles 1:17–27)

10These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a son of a hundred years, and he begot Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11And Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad five hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

12And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and he begot Shelah. 13And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelah three years and four hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

14And Shelah lived thirty years, and he begot Eber. 15And Shelah lived after he begot Eber three years and four hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

16And Eber lived four and thirty years, and he begot Peleg. 17And Eber lived after he begot Peleg thirty years and four hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

18And Peleg lived thirty years, and he begot Reu. 19And Peleg lived after he begot Reu nine years and two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

20And Reu lived two and thirty years, and he begot Serug. 21And Reu lived after he begot Serug seven years and two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

22And Serug lived thirty years, and he begot Nahor. 23And Serug lived after he begot Nahor two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

24And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and he begot Terah. 25And Nahor lived after he begot Terah nineteen years and a hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

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

Terah’s Descendants

27And these are the generations of Terah. Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot. 28And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29And Abram and Nahor took for themselves women^c; the name of Abram's woman was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's woman was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30And Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the woman of Abram his son, 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 dwelt there. 32And the days of Terah were five years and two hundred years; and Terah died in Haran.