⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”^(A)

“I don’t know,^(B)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.^{(C) 11} Now you are under a curse^(D) and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.^(E) You will be a restless wanderer^(F) on the earth.^(G)”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;^(H) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,^(I) and whoever finds me will kill me.”^(J)

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Not so^[a]; anyone who kills Cain^(K) will suffer vengeance^(L) seven times over.^(M)” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence^(N) and lived in the land of Nod,^[b] east of Eden.^(O)

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

Noah and the Flood

⁹ This is the account^(A) of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless^(B) among the people of his time,^(C) and he walked faithfully with God.^{(D) 10} Noah had three sons: Shem,^(E) Ham and Japheth.^(F)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt^(G) in God’s sight and was full of violence.^(H)

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole world had one language^(A) and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward,^[a] they found a plain in Shinar^[b](B) and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks^(C) and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,^(D) and tar^(E) for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,^(F) so that we may make a name^(G) for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered^(H) over the face of the whole earth.”^(I)

⁵ But the Lord came down^(J) to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language^(K) they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us^(L) go down^(M) and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”^(N)

⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,^(O) and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel^[c](P)—because there the Lord confused the language^(Q) of the whole world.^(R) From there the Lord scattered^(S) them over the face of the whole earth.