Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

11 Now the whole earth ^[a]spoke one language and used the same words (vocabulary). ² And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they settled there.^{(A) 3} They said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly [in a kiln, to harden and strengthen them].” So they used brick for stone [as building material], and they used tar (bitumen, asphalt) for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a [famous] name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered [into separate groups] and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth [as the Lord instructed].”^{(B) 5} Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one [unified] people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do [in rebellion against Me], and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) go down and there confuse and mix up their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the entire earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore the name of the city was ^[b]Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the entire earth; and from that place the Lord scattered and dispersed them over the surface of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the records of the generations of Shem [from whom Abraham descended]. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. ¹¹ And Shem lived five hundred years after Arpachshad was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ And Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years after Terah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of ^[c]Abram and Nahor and Haran [his firstborn].

²⁴ Shem [his genealogical line], Arpachshad, Shelah, ²⁵ Eber, Peleg, Reu, ²⁶ Serug, Nahor, Terah, ²⁷ Abram, the same as Abraham.

²⁷ Now these are the records of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram (Abraham), Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^[a]Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai (later called Sarah), and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she did not have a 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 together to go from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran [about five hundred and fifty miles northwest of Ur], they settled there.

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,

⁴ So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which 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 passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [great] terebinth (oak) tree of Moreh. Now the ^[b]Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he moved on from there to the mountain on the east of 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 on the name of the Lord [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving]. ⁹ Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev (the South country of Judah).

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to live temporarily, for the famine in the land was oppressive and severe. ¹¹ And when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “Listen: I know that you are ^[c]a beautiful woman; ¹² so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me [to acquire you], but they will let you live. ¹³ Please tell them that you are ^[d]my sister so that things will go well for me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.” ¹⁴ And when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s princes (officials) also saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken [for the purpose of marriage] into Pharaoh’s house (harem). ¹⁶ Therefore Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake; he acquired sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord punished Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “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 as my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her and go!” ²⁰ So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him on his way, with his wife and all that he had.

Abram and Lot

13 So Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot [his nephew] with him, into the Negev (the South country of Judah).

² Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold. ³ He journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ where he had first built an altar; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord [in prayer].^{(C) 5} But Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ Now the land was not able to support them [that is, sustain all their grazing and water needs] while they lived near one another, for their possessions were too great for them to stay together. ⁷ And there was strife and quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that same time [making grazing of the livestock difficult].

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me, nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives. ⁹ Is not the entire land before you? Please separate [yourself] from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰ So Lot looked and saw that the valley of the Jordan was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; [it was all] like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar [at the south end of the Dead Sea]. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and he traveled east. So they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in the cities of the valley and camped as far as Sodom and lived there. ¹³ But the men of Sodom were extremely wicked and sinful against the Lord [unashamed in their open sin before Him].

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever.^{(D) 16} I will make your descendants [as numerous] as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the [grains of] dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.^{(E) 17} Arise, walk (make a thorough reconnaissance) around in the land, through its length and its width, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram broke camp and moved his tent, and came and settled by the [grove of the great] terebinths (oak trees) of Mamre [the Amorite], which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to [honor] the Lord.

War of the Kings

14 In the days of the [Eastern] kings Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim, ² they [invaded the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, and] made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela ^[e](that is, Zoar). ³ All of these [kings] joined together [as allies] in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Sea of Salt). ⁴ Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer [the most powerful king in the invading confederacy], but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵ In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the [three] kings who were with him attacked and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶ and the Horites in their mountainous country of Seir, as far as El-paran, which is on the border of the wilderness. ⁷ Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar. ⁸ Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they joined together for battle with the invading kings in the Valley of Siddim, ⁹ against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar (bitumen) pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them. But the remainder [of the kings] who survived fled to the hill country. ¹¹ Then the victors took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply and provisions and left. ¹² And they also took [captive] Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and left, for he was living in Sodom.

¹³ Then a survivor who had escaped [from the invading forces on the other side of the Jordan] came and told Abram the ^[f]Hebrew. Now he was living by the terebinths (oaks) of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner—they were allies of Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his nephew [Lot] had been captured, he armed and led out his trained men, born in his own house, [numbering] three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far [north] as Dan. ¹⁵ He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. ¹⁶ And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

Abram and Melchizedek

¹⁷ Then after Abram’s return from the defeat (slaughter) of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ^18 [g]Melchizedek king of Salem (ancient Jerusalem) brought out bread and wine [for them]; he was the priest of ^[h]God Most High. ¹⁹ And Melchizedek blessed Abram and said,

And Abram gave him a tenth of all [the treasure he had taken in battle].^{(F) 21} The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods (spoils of battle) for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand and sworn an oath to the Lord God Most High, the Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I would not take anything that is yours, from a thread to a sandal strap, so you could not say, ‘I [the King of Sodom] have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing except what my young men have eaten, and the share of the spoils belonging to the men [my allies] who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share of the spoils.”