Genesis 11:1-13:4

New King James Version

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and one ^[a]speech. ² And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land ^(A)of Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and ^[b]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower ^(B)whose top is in the heavens; let us make a ^(C)name for ourselves, lest we ^(D)be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

^5 (E)But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Indeed ^(F)the people are one and they all have ^(G)one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they ^(H)propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷ Come, ^(I)let Us go down and there ^(J)confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So ^(K)the Lord scattered them abroad from there ^(L)over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name is called ^[c]Babel, ^(M)because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Shem’s Descendants^(N)

^10 (O)This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹² Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, ^(P)and begot Salah. ¹³ After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. ¹⁵ After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

^16 (Q)Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot ^(R)Peleg. ¹⁷ After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

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

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot ^(S)Serug. ²¹ After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

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

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot ^(T)Terah. ²⁵ After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁶ Now Terah lived seventy years, and ^(U)begot ^[d]Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah’s Descendants

²⁷ This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot ^(V)Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. ²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was ^(W)Sarai,^[e] and the name of Nahor’s wife, ^(X)Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. ³⁰ But ^(Y)Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ And Terah ^(Z)took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from ^(AA)Ur of the Chaldeans to go to ^(AB)the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³² So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Promises to Abram^(AC)

12 Now the ^(AD)Lord had said to Abram:

⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and ^(AL)the ^[f]people whom they had acquired ^(AM)in Haran, and they ^(AN)departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram ^(AO)passed through the land to the place of Shechem, ^(AP)as far as ^[g]the terebinth tree of Moreh. ^(AQ)And the Canaanites were then in the land.

^7 (AR)Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(AS)“To your ^[h]descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an ^(AT)altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(AU)called on the name of the Lord. ⁹ So Abram journeyed, ^(AV)going on still toward the ^[i]South.

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰ Now there was ^(AW)a famine in the land, and Abram ^(AX)went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was ^(AY)severe in the land. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are ^(AZ)a woman of beautiful countenance. ¹² Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they ^(BA)will kill me, but they will let you live. ^13 (BB)Please say you are my ^(BC)sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that ^[j]I may live because of you.”

¹⁴ So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He ^(BD)treated Abram well for her sake. He ^(BE)had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(BF)plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ And Pharaoh called Abram and said, ^(BG)“What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” ^20 (BH)So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

Abram Inherits Canaan

13 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and ^(BI)Lot with him, ^(BJ)to the ^[k]South. ^2 (BK)Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he went on his journey ^(BL)from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the ^(BM)place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram ^(BN)called on the name of the Lord.