Genesis 10-12

New American Standard Bible

Descendants of Noah

10 Now these are the records of the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood.

^2 (A)The sons of Japheth were ^(B)Gomer, Magog, ^(C)Madai, ^(D)Javan, Tubal, ^(E)Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were ^(F)Ashkenaz, ^[a]Riphath, and ^(G)Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, ^(H)Tarshish, Kittim, and ^[b]Dodanim. ⁵ From these the people of the coastlands of the nations ^[c]were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

^6 (I)The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were ^(J)Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, ^(K)Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were ^(L)Sheba and ^(M)Dedan. ⁸ Now Cush fathered Nimrod; he ^[d]became a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was ^[e](N)Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of ^(O)Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went ^(P)to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³ Mizraim fathered ^(Q)Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ^14 (R)Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan fathered ^(S)Sidon, his firstborn, and ^(T)Heth, ^16 (U)the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. ^19 (V)The territory of the Canaanite ^[f]extended from Sidon ^[g]going toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; and ^[h]going toward ^(W)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

²¹ Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born. ^22 (X)The sons of Shem were ^(Y)Elam, Asshur, ^(Z)Arpachshad, ^(AA)Lud, and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were ^(AB)Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴ Arpachshad fathered ^(AC)Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. ^25 (AD)Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was ^[i]Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ^28 [j]Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all of these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ Now their ^[k]settlement ^[l]extended from Mesha ^[m]going toward Sephar, the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations; and ^(AE)out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now all the earth ^[n]used the same language and ^[o]the same words. ² And it came about, as they journeyed ^[p]east, that they found a plain in the land ^(AF)of Shinar and ^[q]settled there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and ^[r]fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used ^(AG)tar for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top ^(AH)will reach into heaven, and let’s make ^(AI)a name for ourselves; otherwise we ^(AJ)will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.” ⁵ Now ^(AK)the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the ^[s]men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have ^[t](AL)the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be ^[u]impossible for them. ⁷ Come, ^[v](AM)let Us go down and there ^(AN)confuse their ^[w]language, so that they will not understand one another’s ^[x]speech.” ⁸ So the Lord ^(AO)scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore it was named ^[y](AP)Babel, because there the Lord confused the ^[z]language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

^10 (AQ)These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood; ¹¹ and Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹² Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and fathered Shelah; ¹³ and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Shelah lived thirty years, and fathered Eber; ¹⁵ and Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ Eber lived thirty-four years, and fathered Peleg; ¹⁷ and Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and fathered Reu; ¹⁹ and Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and fathered Serug; ²¹ and Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²² Serug lived thirty years, and fathered Nahor; ²³ and Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and fathered ^(AR)Terah; ²⁵ and Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terah lived seventy years, and ^(AS)fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and ^(AT)Haran fathered ^(AU)Lot. ²⁸ Haran died ^[aa]during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^(AV)Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and ^(AW)Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was ^(AX)Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was ^(AY)Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah ^[ab]and Iscah. ^30 (AZ)Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.

³¹ Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they departed ^[ac]together from ^(BA)Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and ^[ad]settled there. ³² The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now ^(BB)the Lord said to Abram,

⁴ So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and ^(BH)Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their ^(BI)possessions which they had accumulated, and ^(BJ)the ^[ag]people which they had acquired in Haran, and they ^[ah]set out for the land of Canaan; ^(BK)so they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the site of ^(BL)Shechem, to the ^[ai]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷ And the Lord ^(BM)appeared to Abram and said, “^(BN)To your ^[aj]descendants I will give this land.” So he built ^(BO)an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with ^(BP)Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(BQ)called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward ^(BR)the ^[ak]Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was ^(BS)a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was ^(BT)severe in the land. ¹¹ It came about, when he ^[al]was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a ^[am](BU)beautiful woman; ^12 (BV)and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Please say that you are ^(BW)my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that ^[an](BX)I may live on account of you.” ¹⁴ Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians ^[ao]saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and ^(BY)the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(BZ)he treated Abram well for her sake; and ^[ap](CA)he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(CB)struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “^(CC)What is this that 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 myself as a wife? Now then, ^[aq]here is your wife, take her and go!” ²⁰ And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they ^[ar]escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.