Genesis 11

Now {at first,} all {the people on} the earth spoke the same language, so that everyone understood each other.

As time passed, they moved from the eastern {regions} and {eventually} came to a wide, flat valley in the region of Shinar and stayed there. \*

Then they urged each other, “Come on, let us {work together and} make bricks {from clay} and put them in fire to make them hard.” They used bricks {to build with} instead of stone, and they used tar {between the bricks} instead of mortar.

Then they urged {each other}, “Come on, we should {work together and} build a city for us {to live in} that has a {very} tall building that reaches high into the sky. {That way} we will become famous, and we will not separate from each other {and live} all over the earth.” \*

But {one day} God came down {from heaven} and looked at the city and the {very} tall building that the people were building.

Then he said, “Look, they are one people {group}, and they all speak the same language. This {is} {only} the beginning of what they can do {together}. Soon they will be able to do anything they plan to do.

{So} we must go down there {now} and mix up their language so that they are not able to understand what they say to each other.” \*

In that way, God caused the people to leave from there and live in different places all over the world, so that they had to stop building the city {and the tall building}.

That is why the name of the city is Babel, {which means “mixed up,”} because that is where God mixed up the language that everyone on the earth shared, and {in that way} he made them spread out from there all over the earth. \*

This is the record of Shem’s descendants: Two years after the flood {began}, when Shem was 100 years old, he had {a son named} Arpachshad.

After Arpachshad was born, Shem lived {another} 500 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old, he had {a son named} Shelah.

After Shelah was born, Arpachshad lived {another} 403 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Shelah was thirty years old, he had {a son named} Eber.

After Eber was born, Shelah lived {another} 403 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had {a son named} Peleg.

After Peleg was born, Eber lived {another} 430 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Peleg was thirty years old, he had {a son named} Reu.

After Reu was born, Peleg lived {another} 209 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had {a son named} Serug.

After Serug was born, Reu lived {another} 207 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Serug was thirty years old, he had {a son named} Nahor.

After Nahor was born, Serug lived {another} 200 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters. \*

When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had {a son named} Terah.

After Terah was born, Nahor lived {another} 119 years. He {also} had {other} sons, as well as daughters.

After Terah was seventy years old, he had {sons whose names were} Abram, Nahor, and Haran. \*

Here is the history about Terah and his descendants: Terah’s sons were Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran had a son {whose name was} Lot.

While his father was still alive, Haran died in the land where he was born, in {the city of} Ur where the Chaldean people lived. \*

Meanwhile Abram and Nahor each married a wife. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was Milcah. Milcah and {her sister} Iscah were the daughters of {Nahor’s brother} Haran.

But Sarai was not able to become pregnant, {so} she did not have any children. \*

Then {one day,} Terah gathered his son Abram and his grandson Lot, {who was} Haran’s son, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, who was Abram’s wife, and they {all} left from {the city of} Ur where the Chaldean people lived to travel to the region of Canaan. But when they arrived at {the city of} Haran, they decided to live there {instead}.

Then {many years later,} when Terah was 205 years old, he died {there} in {the city of} Haran. \*