Genesis 9-12

New American Standard Bible 1995

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “^(A)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the ^[a]sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. ³ Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, ^(B)as I gave the green plant. ⁴ Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(C)its blood. ⁵ Surely I will require ^[b](D)your lifeblood; ^[c](E)from every beast I will require it. And ^[d]from every man, ^[e]from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, ^(I)I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your ^[g]descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. ¹¹ I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(J)never again be cut off by the water of the flood, ^(K)neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² God said, “This is ^(L)the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^[h]all successive generations; ¹³ I set My ^(M)bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵ and ^(N)I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^(O)never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the ^(P)everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

¹⁸ Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and ^(Q)Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and ^(R)from these the whole earth was ^[i]populated.

²⁰ Then Noah began ^[j]farming and planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank of the wine and ^(S)became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, ^(T)saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were ^[k]turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ So he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Descendants of Noah

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

^2 (Y)The sons of Japheth were ^(Z)Gomer and Magog and ^(AA)Madai and ^(AB)Javan and Tubal and ^(AC)Meshech and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were ^(AD)Ashkenaz and ^[o]Riphath and ^(AE)Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah and ^(AF)Tarshish, Kittim and ^[p]Dodanim. ⁵ From these the coastlands of the nations ^[q]were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

^6 (AG)The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were ^(AH)Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and ^(AI)Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were ^(AJ)Sheba and ^(AK)Dedan. ⁸ Now Cush ^[r]became the father of Nimrod; he ^[s]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 The beginning of his kingdom was ^[t](AL)Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of ^(AM)Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went forth ^(AN)into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³ Mizraim ^[u]became the father of ^(AO)Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim ¹⁴ and ^(AP)Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan ^[v]became the father of ^(AQ)Sidon, his firstborn, and ^(AR)Heth ¹⁶ and ^(AS)the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite ¹⁷ and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite ¹⁸ and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. ^19 (AT)The territory of the Canaanite ^[w]extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward ^(AU)Sodom and Gomorrah and 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, by their nations.

²¹ Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the ^[x]older brother of Japheth, children were born. ^22 (AV)The sons of Shem were ^(AW)Elam and Asshur and ^(AX)Arpachshad and ^(AY)Lud and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were ^(AZ)Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. ²⁴ Arpachshad ^[y]became the father of ^(BA)Shelah; and Shelah ^[z]became the father of Eber. ^25 (BB)Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was ^[aa]Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan ^[ab]became the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah ²⁷ and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah ²⁸ and ^[ac]Obal and Abimael and Sheba ²⁹ and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ Now their ^[ad]settlement ^[ae]extended from Mesha as you go 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, according to their nations.

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

Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

11 Now the whole earth ^[af]used the same language and ^[ag]the same words. ² It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land ^(BD)of Shinar and ^[ah]settled there. ³ They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used ^(BE)tar for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top ^(BF)will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves ^(BG)a name, otherwise we ^(BH)will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” ^5 (BI)The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have ^[ai](BJ)the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be ^[aj]impossible for them. ⁷ Come, ^(BK)let Us go down and there ^(BL)confuse their ^[ak]language, so that they will not understand one another’s ^[al]speech.” ⁸ So the Lord ^(BM)scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name was called ^[am](BN)Babel, because there the Lord confused the ^[an]language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Descendants of Shem

^10 (BO)These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and ^[ao]became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; ¹¹ and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of ^(BP)Terah; ²⁵ and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terah lived seventy years, and became ^(BQ)the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and ^(BR)Haran became the father of ^(BS)Lot. ²⁸ Haran died ^[ap]in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^(BT)Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and ^(BU)Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was ^(BV)Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was ^(BW)Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah ^[aq]and Iscah. ^30 (BX)Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ Terah 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 out ^[ar]together from ^(BY)Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and ^[as]settled there. ³² The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now ^(BZ)the Lord said to Abram,

⁴ So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and ^(CF)Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their ^(CG)possessions which they had accumulated, and ^(CH)the ^[ax]persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they ^[ay]set out for the land of Canaan; ^(CI)thus they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the site of ^(CJ)Shechem, to the ^[az]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. ⁷ The Lord ^(CK)appeared to Abram and said, “^(CL)To your ^[ba]descendants I will give this land.” So he built ^(CM)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 ^(CN)Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(CO)called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Abram journeyed on, continuing toward ^(CP)the ^[bb]Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was ^(CQ)a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was ^(CR)severe in the land. ¹¹ It came about when he ^[bc]came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a ^[bd](CS)beautiful woman; ^12 (CT)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 ^(CU)my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that ^[be](CV)I may live on account of you.” ¹⁴ It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians ^[bf]saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and ^(CW)the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(CX)he treated Abram well for her sake; and ^[bg](CY)gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(CZ)struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “^(DA)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, ^[bh]here is your wife, take her and go.” ²⁰ Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they ^[bi]escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.