Genesis 1-11

Easy-to-Read Version

The Beginning of the World

1 God created the sky and the earth. At first, ² the earth was completely empty. There was nothing on the earth. Darkness covered the ocean, and God’s Spirit moved over^[a] the water.

The First Day—Light

³ Then God said, “Let there be light!” And light began to shine.^{[b] 4} He saw the light, and he knew that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God named the light “day,” and he named the darkness “night.”

There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the first day.

The Second Day—Sky

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be a space^[c] to separate the water into two parts!” ⁷ So God made the space and separated the water. Some of the water was above it, and some of the water was below it. ⁸ God named that space “sky.” There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the second day.

The Third Day—Dry Land and Plants

⁹ Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together so that the dry land will appear.” And it happened. ¹⁰ God named the dry land “earth,” and he named the water that was gathered together “seas.” And God saw that this was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth grow grass, plants that make grain, and fruit trees. The fruit trees will make fruit with seeds in it. And each plant will make its own kind of seed. Let these plants grow on the earth.” And it happened. ¹² The earth grew grass and plants that made grain. And it grew trees that made fruit with seeds in it. Every plant made its own kind of seeds. And God saw that this was good.

¹³ There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the third day.

The Fourth Day—Sun, Moon, and Stars

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky. These lights will separate the days from the nights. They will be used for signs to show when special meetings^[d] begin and to show the days and years. ¹⁵ They will be in the sky to shine light on the earth.” And it happened.

¹⁶ So God made the two large lights. He made the larger light to rule during the day and the smaller light to rule during the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God put these lights in the sky to shine on the earth. ¹⁸ He put them in the sky to rule over the day and over the night. They separated the light from the darkness. And God saw that this was good.

¹⁹ There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the fourth day.

The Fifth Day—Fish and Birds

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the water be filled with many living things, and let there be birds to fly in the air over the earth.” ²¹ So God created the large sea animals.^[e] He created all the many living things in the sea and every kind of bird that flies in the air. And God saw that this was good.

²² God blessed all the living things in the sea and told them to have many babies and fill the seas. And he blessed the birds on land and told them to have many more babies.

²³ There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the fifth day.

The Sixth Day—Land Animals and People

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth produce many kinds of living things. Let there be many different kinds of animals. Let there be large animals and small crawling animals of every kind. And let all these animals produce more animals.” And all these things happened.

²⁵ So God made every kind of animal. He made the wild animals, the tame animals, and all the small crawling things. And God saw that this was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Now let’s make humans^[f] who will be like us.^[g] They will rule over all the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. They will rule over all the large animals and all the little things that crawl on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created humans in his own image. He created them to be like himself.^[h] He created them male and female. ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Have many children. Fill the earth and take control of it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. Rule over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹ God said, “I am giving you all the grain bearing plants and all the fruit trees. These trees make fruit with seeds in it. This grain and fruit will be your food. ³⁰ And I am giving all the green plants to the animals. These green plants will be their food. Every animal on earth, every bird in the air, and all the little things that crawl on the earth will eat that food.” And all these things happened.

³¹ God looked at everything he had made. And he saw that everything was very good.

There was evening, and then there was morning. This was the sixth day.

The Seventh Day—Rest

2 So the earth, the sky, and everything in them were finished. ² God finished the work he was doing, so on the seventh day he rested from his work. ³ God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day. He made it special because on that day he rested from all the work he did while creating the world.

The First Man and the Garden of Eden

⁴ This is the story about the creation of the sky and the earth. This is what happened when the Lord God made the earth and the sky. ⁵ This was before there were plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the earth, and there was no one to care for the plants.

⁶ So water^[i] came up from the earth and spread over the ground. ⁷ Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and made a man.^[j] He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living thing. ⁸ Then the Lord God planted a garden in the East,^[k] in a place named Eden. He put the man he made in that garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God caused all the beautiful trees that were good for food to grow in the garden. In the middle of the garden, he put the tree of life and the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed from Eden and watered the garden. The river then separated and became four smaller rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first river was Pishon. This river flowed around the entire country of Havilah.^{[l] 12} (There is gold in that country, and that gold is pure. A kind of expensive perfume and onyx are also found there.) ¹³ The name of the second river was Gihon. This river flowed around the whole land of Cush.^{[m] 14} The name of the third river was Tigris. This river flowed east of Assyria. The fourth river was the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to work the soil and take care of the garden. ¹⁶ The Lord God gave him this command: “You may eat from any tree in the garden. ¹⁷ But you must not eat from the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil. If you eat fruit from that tree, on that day you will certainly die!”

A Companion for Adam

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “I see that it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the companion he needs, one just right for him.”

¹⁹ The Lord God used dust from the ground and made every animal in the fields and every bird in the air. He brought all these animals to the man, and the man gave them all a name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all the tame animals, to all the birds in the air, and to all the wild animals. He saw many animals and birds, but he could not find a companion that was right for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to sleep very deeply. While he was asleep, God took one of the ribs from the man’s body. Then he closed the man’s skin where the rib had been. ²² The Lord God used the rib from the man to make a woman. Then he brought the woman to the man. ²³ And the man said,

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. In this way two people become one.

²⁵ The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.

The Beginning of Sin

3 The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, “Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

² The woman answered the snake, “No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree, or you will die.’”

⁴ But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. ⁵ God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!”

⁶ The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.

⁷ Then it was as if their eyes opened, and they saw things differently. They saw that they were naked. So they got some fig leaves, sewed them together, and wore them for clothes.

⁸ During the cool part of the day, the Lord God was walking in the garden. The man and the woman heard him, and they hid among the trees in the garden. ⁹ The Lord God called to the man and said, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ The man said, “I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid.”

¹¹ God said to the man, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from that special tree? I told you not to eat from that tree!”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

She said, “The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the snake,

¹⁶ Then God said to the woman,

¹⁷ Then God said to the man,

²⁰ Adam^[p] named his wife Eve.^[q] He gave her this name because Eve would be the mother of everyone who ever lived.

²¹ The Lord God used animal skins and made some clothes for the man and his wife. Then he put the clothes on them.

²² The Lord God said, “Look, the man has become like us—he knows about good and evil. And now the man might take the fruit from the tree of life. If the man eats that fruit, he will live forever.”

²³ So the Lord God forced the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he was made from. ²⁴ God forced the man to leave the garden. Then he put Cherub angels and a sword of fire at the entrance to the garden to protect it. The sword flashed around and around, guarding the way to the tree of life.

The First Family

4 Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Cain.^[r] Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have made a man!”

² Eve gave birth again to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd, and Cain became a farmer.

The First Murder

^3-4 At harvest time,^[s] Cain brought a gift to the Lord. He brought some of the food that he grew from the ground, but Abel brought some animals from his flock. He chose some of his best sheep and brought the best parts from them.^[t]

The Lord accepted Abel and his gift. ⁵ But he did not accept Cain and his offering. Cain was sad because of this, and he became very angry. ⁶ The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why does your face look sad? ⁷ You know that if you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you don’t, sin is ready to attack you. That sin will want to control you, but you must control it.”^[u]

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[v] So they went to the field. Then Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Later, the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain answered, “I don’t know. Is it my job to watch over my brother?”

^10-11 Then the Lord said, “What have you done? You killed your brother and the ground opened up to take his blood from your hands. Now his blood is shouting to me from the ground. So you will be cursed from this ground. ¹² Now when you work the soil, the ground will not help your plants grow. You will not have a home in this land. You will wander from place to place.”

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is more than I can bear! ¹⁴ You are forcing me to leave the land, and I will not be able to be near you or have a home! Now I must wander from place to place, and anyone I meet could kill me.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Cain, “No, if anyone kills you, I will punish that person much, much more.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to show that no one should kill him.

Cain’s Family

¹⁶ Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod.^[w]

¹⁷ Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Enoch. Cain built a city and gave the city the same name as his son Enoch.

¹⁸ Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad had a son named Mehujael. Mehujael had a son named Methushael. And Methushael had a son named Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech married two women. One wife was named Adah, and the other was named Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal. Jabal was the father^[x] of people who live in tents and earn their living by keeping cattle. ²¹ Jabal was Jubal’s brother. Jubal was the father of people who play the harp and flute. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain. Tubal-Cain was the father of people who work with bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was named Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

Adam and Eve Have a New Son

²⁵ Adam again had sexual relations with his wife, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth.^[y] Eve said, “God has given me another son. Cain killed Abel, but now I have Seth.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son. He named him Enosh. At that time people began to pray to the Lord.^[z]

The History of Adam’s Family

5 This is the history of Adam’s^[aa] family. When God created people, he made them like himself.^{[ab] 2} He created them male and female. And on the same day he made them, he blessed them and called them “humans.”^[ac]

³ After Adam was 130 years old, he had another son. This son looked just like Adam.^[ad] Adam named his son Seth. ⁴ After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵ So Adam lived a total of 930 years; then he died.

⁶ After Seth was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh. ⁷ After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸ So Seth lived a total of 912 years; then he died.

⁹ After Enosh was 90 years old, he had a son named Kenan. ¹⁰ After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ So Enosh lived a total of 905 years; then he died.

¹² After Kenan was 70 years old, he had a son named Mahalalel. ¹³ After Mahalalel was born, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So Kenan lived a total of 910 years; then he died.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he had a son named Jared. ¹⁶ After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years; then he died.

¹⁸ After Jared was 162 years old, he had a son named Enoch. ¹⁹ After Enoch was born, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ So Jared lived a total of 962 years; then he died.

²¹ After Enoch was 65 years old, he had a son named Methuselah. ²² After Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ So Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ One day Enoch was walking with God, and he disappeared. God took him.^[ae]

²⁵ After Methuselah was 187 years old, he had a son named Lamech. ²⁶ After Lamech was born, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years; then he died.

²⁸ When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. ²⁹ Lamech named his son Noah.^[af] Lamech said, “We work very hard as farmers because God cursed the ground. But Noah will bring us rest.”

³⁰ After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ So Lamech lived a total of 777 years; then he died.

³² After Noah was 500 years old, he had sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

People Become Evil

6 The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children.

Then the Lord said, “People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years.”^[ag]

During this time and also later, the Nephilim people lived in the land. They have been famous as powerful soldiers since ancient times.

⁵ The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that he had made people on the earth. It made him very sad in his heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.”

⁸ But Noah pleased the Lord.

Noah and the Great Flood

⁹ This is the history of Noah’s family. He was a good man all his life, and he always followed God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

^11-12 When God looked at the earth, he saw that people had ruined it. Violence was everywhere, and it had ruined their life on earth.

¹³ So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth. ¹⁴ Use cypress wood^[ah] and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.

¹⁵ “This is the size I want you to make the boat: 300 cubits^[ai] long, 50 cubits^[aj] wide, and 30 cubits^[ak] high. ¹⁶ Make a window for the boat about 1 cubit^[al] below the roof.^[am] Put a door in the side of the boat. Make three floors in the boat: a top deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck.

¹⁷ “Understand what I am telling you. I will bring a great flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under heaven. Everything on the earth will die. ¹⁸ I will make a special agreement with you. You, your wife, your sons, and their wives will all go into the boat. ¹⁹ Also, you will take two of every living thing on the earth with you into the boat. Take a male and female of every kind of animal so that they might survive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing will come to you so that you might keep them alive. ²¹ Also bring every kind of food into the boat, for you and for the animals.”

²² Noah did everything God commanded him.

The Flood Begins

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat. ² Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of every kind of clean animal. And get one pair (one male and one female) of every other animal on the earth. Lead all these animals into the boat with you. ³ Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of all the birds. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the other animals are destroyed. ⁴ Seven days from now, I will send much rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe everything off the face of the earth. I will destroy everything I made.” ⁵ Noah did everything the Lord told him to do.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old at the time the rains came. ⁷ He and his family went into the boat to be saved from the flood. His wife and his sons and their wives were on the boat with him. ⁸ All the clean animals, all the other animals on the earth, the birds, and everything that crawls on the earth ⁹ went into the boat with Noah. These animals went into the boat in groups of two, male and female, just as God commanded. ¹⁰ Seven days later the flood started. The rain began to fall on the earth.

^11-13 On the 17th day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, the springs under the earth broke through the ground, and water flowed out everywhere. The sky also opened like windows and rain poured down. The rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. That same day Noah went into the boat with his wife, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. ¹⁴ They and every kind of animal on the earth were in the boat. Every kind of cattle, every kind of animal that crawls on the earth, and every kind of bird were in the boat. ¹⁵ All these animals went into the boat with Noah. They came in groups of two from every kind of animal that had the breath of life. ¹⁶ All these animals went into the boat in groups of two, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind Noah.

¹⁷ Water flooded the earth for 40 days. The water began rising and lifted the boat off the ground. ¹⁸ The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on the water high above the earth. ¹⁹ The water rose so much that even the highest mountains were covered by the water. ²⁰ The water continued to rise above the mountains. The water was more than 20 feet^[an] above the highest mountain.

^21-22 Every living thing on earth died—every man and woman, every bird, and every kind of animal. All the many kinds of animals and all the things that crawl on the ground died. Every living, breathing thing on dry land died. ²³ In this way God wiped the earth clean—he destroyed every living thing on the earth—every human, every animal, everything that crawls, and every bird. All that was left was Noah and his family and the animals that were with him in the boat. ²⁴ The water continued to cover the earth for 150 days.

The Flood Ends

8 But God did not forget about Noah. God remembered him and all the animals that were with him in the boat. God made a wind blow over the earth, and all the water began to disappear.

² Rain stopped falling from the sky, and water stopped flowing from under the earth. ^3-4 The water that covered the earth began to go down. After 150 days the water was low enough that the boat touched land again. The boat stopped on one of the mountains of Ararat. This was the 17th day of the seventh month. ⁵ The water continued to go down, and by the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains were above the water.

⁶ Forty days later Noah opened the window he had made in the boat. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven. The raven flew from place to place until the ground was dry and the water was gone. ⁸ Noah also sent out a dove. He wanted it to find dry ground. He wanted to know if water still covered the earth.

⁹ The dove could not find a place to rest because water still covered the earth, so the dove came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and caught the dove and brought it back into the boat.

¹⁰ After seven days Noah again sent out the dove. ¹¹ And that afternoon the dove came back to Noah. The dove had a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. This was a sign to show Noah that there was dry ground on the earth. ¹² Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. But this time the dove didn’t come back.

¹³ After that Noah opened the door^[ao] of the boat. He looked and saw that the ground was dry. This was the first day of the first month of the year. He was 601 years old. ¹⁴ By the 27th day of the second month, the ground was completely dry.

¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Leave the boat. You, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives should go out now. ¹⁷ Bring every living animal out of the boat with you—all the birds, animals, and everything that crawls on the earth. These animals will make many more animals, and they will fill the earth again.”

¹⁸ So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ All the animals, everything that crawls, and every bird left the boat. All the animals came out of the boat in family groups.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to honor the Lord. Noah took some of all the clean birds and some of all the clean animals and burned them on the altar as a gift to God.

²¹ The Lord smelled these sacrifices, and it pleased him. The Lord said to himself, “I will never again curse the earth as a way to punish people. People are evil from the time they are young, but I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time. ²² As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth.”

The New Beginning

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Have many children. Fill the earth with your people. ² Every animal on earth, every bird in the air, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will be afraid of you. All of them will be under your control. ³ In the past, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now every animal will also be food for you. I give you everything on earth—it is yours. ⁴ But I give you one command. You must not eat meat that still has its life (blood) in it. ⁵ Also, I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any person or animal that takes a human life.

⁷ “Have many children and fill the earth with your people.”

⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “I now make my promise to you and to your people who will live after you. ¹⁰ I make my promise to all the birds, and to all the cattle, and to all the animals that came out of the boat with you. I make my promise to every living thing on earth. ¹¹ This is my promise to you: All life on the earth was destroyed by the flood. But that will never happen again. A flood will never again destroy all life on the earth.”

¹² And God said, “I will give you something to prove that I made this promise to you. It will continue forever to show that I have made an agreement with you and every living thing on earth. ¹³ I am putting a rainbow in the clouds as proof of the agreement between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth, you will see the rainbow in the clouds. ¹⁵ When I see this rainbow, I will remember the agreement between me and you and every living thing on the earth. This agreement says that a flood will never again destroy all life on the earth. ¹⁶ When I look and see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the agreement that continues forever. I will remember the agreement between me and every living thing on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This rainbow is proof of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”

Problems Begin Again

¹⁸ Noah’s sons came out of the boat with him. Their names were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These three men were Noah’s sons. And all the people on earth came from these three sons.

²⁰ Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. ²¹ One day Noah made some wine. He got drunk, went into his tent, and took off all his clothes. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his brothers who were outside the tent. ²³ Shem and Japheth took a robe, put it across their shoulders, and walked backward into the tent. Then they covered their father without looking at him.

²⁴ Later, Noah woke up. (He was sleeping because of the wine.) When he learned what his youngest son Ham had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

²⁶ Noah also said,

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ He lived a total of 950 years; then he died.

Nations Grow and Spread

10 This is the history of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They are Noah’s sons. These men had children after the flood.

Japheth’s Descendants

⁵ All the people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea came from these sons of Japheth. The people separated and went to different countries according to languages, families, and nations.

Ham’s Descendants

⁸ Cush also had a son named Nimrod who became a very powerful man on earth. ⁹ He was a great hunter before the Lord. That is why people compare other men to him and say, “That man is like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord.”

¹⁰ Nimrod’s kingdom spread from Babylon to Erech, to Akkad, and then to Calneh in the land of Babylonia.^{[at] 11} Nimrod also went into Assyria. In Assyria, Nimrod built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and ¹² Resen. (Resen is the city between Nineveh and Calah, the big city.)

The families of Canaan spread to different parts of the world. ¹⁹ The land where the Canaanites lived went from Sidon down along the coast to Gerar and from Gaza as far east as Sodom and Gomorrah and from Admah and Zeboiim as far north as Laish.

²⁰ All these people were descendants of Ham. They are arranged by families, languages, countries, and nations.

Shem’s Descendants

²¹ Shem was Japheth’s older brother. One of Shem’s descendants was Eber, the father of all the Hebrew people.^[au]

³¹ These are the people from the family of Shem. They are arranged by families, languages, countries, and nations.

³² This is the list of the families from Noah’s sons. They are arranged according to their nations. From these families came all the people who spread across the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 There was a time when the whole world spoke one language. Everyone used the same words. ² Then people began to move from the East. They found a plain in the land of Babylonia and stayed there to live. ³ Then they said to each other, “Let’s make some bricks of clay and bake them in the fire.” Then they used these bricks as stones, and they used tar as mortar.

⁴ Then the people said, “Let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that will reach to the sky. Then we will be famous. This will keep us together so that we will not be scattered all over the earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. ⁶ The Lord said, “These people all speak the same language. And I see that they are joined together to do this work. This is only the beginning of what they can do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. ⁷ Let’s go down and confuse their language. Then they will not understand each other.”

⁸ So people stopped building the city, and the Lord scattered them all over the earth. ⁹ That is the place where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. That is why it is called Babel.^[ax] And it was from there that the Lord caused the people to spread out to all the other places on earth.

The History of Shem’s Family

¹⁰ This is the history of Shem’s family. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, his son Arphaxad was born. ¹¹ After that Shem lived 500 years. He had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arphaxad was 35 years old, his son Shelah was born. ¹³ After Shelah was born, Arphaxad lived 403 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ After Shelah was 30 years old, his son Eber was born. ¹⁵ After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ After Eber was 34 years old, his son Peleg was born. ¹⁷ After Peleg was born, Eber lived another 430 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ After Peleg was 30 years old, his son Reu was born. ¹⁹ After Reu was born, Peleg lived another 209 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ After Reu was 32 years old, his son Serug was born. ²¹ After Serug was born, Reu lived another 207 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

²² After Serug was 30 years old, his son Nahor was born. ²³ After Nahor was born, Serug lived another 200 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ After Nahor was 29 years old, his son Terah was born. ²⁵ After Terah was born, Nahor lived another 119 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ After Terah was 70 years old, his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran were born.

The History of Terah’s Family

²⁷ This is the history of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in his hometown, Ur of Babylonia,^[ay] while his father Terah was still alive. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. Abram’s wife was named Sarai. Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. Milcah was the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Sarai did not have any children because she was not able to have children.

³¹ Terah took his family and left Ur of Babylonia. They planned to travel to Canaan. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife). They traveled to the city of Haran and decided to stay there. ³² Terah lived to be 205 years old. He died in Haran.