1 Now the whole earth 1Lit was one lipused the same language and 2Or few or one set of wordsthe same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land AGen 10:10; 14:1; Dan 1:2of Shinar and 1Lit dweltsettled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used AGen 14:10tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top ADeut 1:28; 9:1; Ps 107:26will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves BGen 6:4; 2 Sam 8:13a name, otherwise we CDeut 4:27will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 AGen 18:21; Ex 3:8; 19:11, 18, 20The Loʀᴅ came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The Loʀᴅ said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have 1Lit one lipAGen 11:1the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be 2Lit withheld fromimpossible for them. 7  “Come, AGen 1:26let Us go down and there BGen 42:23; Ex 4:11; Deut 28:49; Is 33:19; Jer 5:15confuse their 1Lit liplanguage, so that they will not understand one another’s 1Lit lipspeech.” 8 So the Loʀᴅ AGen 11:4; Ps 92:9; Luke 1:51scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called 1Or Babylon; cf Heb balal, confuseAGen 10:10Babel, because there the Loʀᴅ confused the 2Lit liplanguage of the whole earth; and from there the Loʀᴅ scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

10 AGen 10:22-25These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and 1Lit begot, and so throughout the chbecame the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; 11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah; 13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.

14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber; 15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.

16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg; 17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu; 19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug; 21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor; 23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of AJosh 24:2Terah; 25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.

26 Terah lived seventy years, and became AJosh 24:2the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and AGen 11:31; 12:4Haran became the father of BGen 13:10; 14:12; 19:1, 29Lot. 28 Haran died 1Or during the lifetime ofin the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in AGen 11:31Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and AGen 24:10Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was BGen 17:15; 20:12Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was CGen 22:20, 23; 24:15Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah 1Lit and the father ofand Iscah. 30 AGen 16:1Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out 1Lit with themtogether from AGen 15:7; Neh 9:7; Acts 7:4Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and 2Lit dweltsettled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.