The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as they migrated from the east,^[a] they came upon a plain in 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, and bitumen for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ ⁵ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹ Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused^[b] the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; ¹¹ and Shem lived after the birth of Arpachshad for five hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived for thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah; ¹³ and Arpachshad lived after the birth of Shelah for four hundred and three years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived for thirty years, he became the father of Eber; ¹⁵ and Shelah lived after the birth of Eber for four hundred and three years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived for thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg; ¹⁷ and Eber lived after the birth of Peleg for four hundred and thirty years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived for thirty years, he became the father of Reu; ¹⁹ and Peleg lived after the birth of Reu for two hundred and nine years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived for thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug; ²¹ and Reu lived after the birth of Serug for two hundred and seven years, and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived for thirty years, he became the father of Nahor; ²³ and Serug lived after the birth of Nahor for two hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived for twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah; ²⁵ and Nahor lived after the birth of Terah for one hundred and nineteen years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived for seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Descendants of Terah

²⁷ Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together 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 two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.