The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in ^(A)the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, ^(B)and bitumen for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower ^(C)with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ And ^(D)the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, ^(E)let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” ⁸ So ^(F)the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name was called ^(G)Babel, because there the Lord confused^[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Shem's Descendants

^10 (H)These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹ And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³ And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵ And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹ And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. ²¹ And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. ²³ And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When ^(I)Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵ And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When ^(J)Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah's Descendants

²⁷ Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was ^(K)Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, ^(L)Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ Terah ^(M)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 forth together ^(N)from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³² The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(O)the Lord said^[b] to Abram, “Go from your country^[c] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ^2 (P)And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3 (Q)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^(R)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[d]

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from ^(S)Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram ^(T)passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^(U)the oak^[e] of ^(V)Moreh. At that time ^(W)the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(X)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^(Y)Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰ Now ^(Z)there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, ¹² and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they ^(AA)will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” ¹⁴ When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. ¹⁶ And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(AB)afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “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,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” ²⁰ And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Answer Me When I Call

To the ^(A)choirmaster: with ^(B)stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

Lust

^27 (A)“You have heard that it was said, ^(B)‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that ^(C)everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ^29 (D)If your right eye ^(E)causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into ^(F)hell. ^30 (G)And if your right hand ^(H)causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into ^(I)hell.

Divorce

^31 (J)“It was also said, ^(K)‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ^32 (L)But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and ^(M)whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

³³ “Again ^(N)you have heard that it was said to those of old, ^(O)‘You shall not swear falsely, but ^(P)shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ ³⁴ But I say to you, ^(Q)Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for ^(R)it is the throne of God, ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is ^(S)the city of the great King. ³⁶ And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷ Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; ^(T)anything more than this comes from evil.^[a]

Retaliation

^38 (U)“You have heard that it was said, ^(V)‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say to you, ^(W)Do not resist the one who is evil. But ^(X)if anyone ^(Y)slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰ And ^(Z)if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,^[b] let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹ And if anyone ^(AA)forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ^42 (AB)Give to the one who begs from you, and ^(AC)do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Love Your Enemies

^43 (AD)“You have heard that it was said, ^(AE)‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(AF)Love your enemies and ^(AG)pray for those who persecute you, ^45 (AH)so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and ^(AI)sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ^46 (AJ)For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers,^[c] what more are you doing than others? Do not even ^(AK)the Gentiles do the same? ^48 (AL)You therefore must be ^(AM)perfect, ^(AN)as your heavenly Father is perfect.