Genesis 11-17

The Voice

11 There was a time when everyone on the earth spoke the very same language. ² As many of these people began moving from the eastern regions into the western part of Mesopotamia, they settled down on a plain in the land of Shinar. ³ Since stone was not readily available, they discovered how to make bricks and use tar for mortar to build their structures.

⁵ The Eternal One came down and took a look at the city and the tower the children of Adam were building. He was not pleased.

⁸ This is how the Eternal scattered people from Shinar all across the surface of the earth. Since they were unable to communicate, they stopped working on the city and went their separate ways. ⁹ So this is why the city was called Babel:^[a] because it was there that the Eternal confused the language of all the peoples and scattered them across the surface of the earth.

¹⁰ Here is the account of the descendants of Shem, Noah’s son. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad. (This was about two years after the flood.) ¹¹ After Arpachshad was born, Shem lived another 500 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³ After Shelah was born, Arpachshad lived 403 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵ After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ After Peleg was born, Eber lived 430 more years, and he also had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹ After Reu was born, Peleg lived 209 more years, and he had other sons and daughters as well.

²⁰ When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. ²¹ After Serug was born, Reu lived 207 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. ²³ After Nahor was born, Serug lived 200 more years, and he had other sons and daughters as well.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵ After Terah was born, Nahor lived 119 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived 70 years, he had fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Here is the account of Terah’s descendants. Terah, as said, had fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ While Terah was still alive, Haran died in the same land in which he was born—in Ur, the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ However, Abram and Nahor lived on and married. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. Now Milcah was the daughter of Haran, who fathered both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai couldn’t conceive and didn’t have a child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram and grandson Lot (Haran’s son) and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife). They left Ur of the Chaldeans together and traveled in the direction of the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Haran, they settled there. ³² Terah was 205 years old at that time, and he ended up dying in Haran.

12 One day, the Eternal One called out to Abram.

^4-5 Without any hesitation, Abram went. He did exactly as the Eternal One asked him to do. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. He took with him his wife Sarai, his brother’s son Lot, all of their possessions, and all of the persons they had acquired for their household while in Haran; and they all set off toward the land of Canaan. When they reached Canaan, ⁶ Abram kept going through it to a sacred place called Shechem where the oak of Moreh stood. (At this time, the Canaanite people were living on this land, so Abram could not take it as his own.) ⁷ There the Eternal appeared to Abram.

So, out of honor and respect, there Abram built an altar table to the Eternal One, who had appeared to him and spoken these words of promise. ⁸ After that, Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel, and there he pitched a tent and made a home for himself and his family between Bethel in the west and Ai in the east. Here Abram built another altar table for the Eternal One, where he called upon the name of the Eternal frequently. ⁹ Then Abram journeyed south toward the Negev region.

¹⁰ Now at this time, there came a severe famine in the land of Canaan. Food was scarce, so Abram made his way to Egypt to live there for a while as a foreigner. ¹¹ As Abram was about to enter Egypt, he pulled Sarai his wife aside.

¹⁴ So when Abram came into Egypt with Sarai and his family, the Egyptians did indeed see that Sarai was very beautiful. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they told Pharaoh just how beautiful she was. So Sarai was taken into Pharaoh’s house and made part of his harem. ¹⁶ She pleased the Pharaoh, so he treated Abram very well, giving him gifts of sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. ¹⁷ But the Eternal One was not pleased and began afflicting the Pharaoh and his household with skin diseases because of what was happening to Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram to come before him.

²⁰ And Pharaoh gave his men orders to make sure Abram went on his way along with his wife and all of his belongings.

13 Abram left Egypt with his wife, Lot, and everything he owned, and he went back up into the Negev region. ² Because of his experience in Egypt, Abram had become quite rich. He had livestock, silver, and gold to carry with him. ³ He journeyed north in stages from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where he had pitched his tent earlier between Bethel and Ai. ⁴ He returned to one of the first altar tables he had made in the land, stopped there, and called on the name of the Eternal once again. ⁵ Lot, who had gone with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶ so the land was no longer large enough to support the two of them living together as one household. They each had so many possessions that they just couldn’t stay together any longer. ⁷ Arguments erupted between Abram’s and Lot’s livestock herders as they tried to graze their flocks side-by-side. (During this time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living on this land too.)

¹⁰ Lot looked around, and he noticed the grassy plains in the Jordan Valley looked well watered and fertile, just as he imagined the Eternal One’s gardens might be or as he knew the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar to be. (This all happened before the Eternal destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose to settle his family on the plains of the Jordan Valley, and he journeyed eastward. This is how Abram and Lot separated from each other and established two different households. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled among the cities of the Jordanian Valley. He eventually spread out and pitched his tent as far away as Sodom. ¹³ (Now you need to know that the people of the city of Sodom were quite wicked—utterly defiant toward God.)

¹⁴ After Lot had moved away, the Eternal spoke to Abram.

¹⁸ So Abram moved his family and belongings again, this time to Hebron, settling near the oaks of Mamre. Abram built yet another altar table to the Eternal here in this new place.

14 Back when King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim ruled the land, ² these four kings formed an alliance and made war on five other kings: Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (a city now known as Zoar). ³ All of these joined forces in the valley of Siddim (near the area now known as the Dead Sea^[e]). ⁴ You see, the five latter kings had been conquered by Chedorlaomer and so they had served him for 12 years; but in the 13th year, they rebelled against him. ⁵ In the 14th year, Chedorlaomer and the three kings who were allied with him squashed rebellions of the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶ and the Horites in the hill country of Seir all the way to El-paran, which lies on the edge of the wilderness.

⁷ Then Chedorlaomer and his allies turned back and did the same in En-mishpat (a city also known as Kadesh), and they conquered all of the country of the Amalekites and also the Amorites, who lived then in Hazazon-tamar. ^8-9 The five kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (that is, Zoar) all went and joined in battle in the valley of Siddim against the four kings (Chedorlaomer of Elam, Tidal of Goiim, Amraphel of Shinar, and Arioch of Ellasar). ¹⁰ The valley of Siddim held many dangers; it was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled the battle, some of their soldiers fell into the pits and were killed. The rest managed to make it out alive to the hill country. ¹¹ As a result, Chedorlaomer and his allies captured all of the spoils of battle from the retreating forces of Sodom and Gomorrah—their provisions, weapons, and other supplies. Then they left. ¹² But before they left they took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother who lived in Sodom, prisoner along with all of his goods.

¹³ Then one of the men who had escaped the battle went and found Abram, the Hebrew, who at that time was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite (brother of Eshcol and of Aner—some of Abram’s allies). He told Abram what had happened. ¹⁴ As soon as Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he gathered a company of his most reliable and best-trained men (there were 318 of them, all born in his household) and pursued the enemy as far north as Dan. ¹⁵ When he caught up with them, Abram divided up his men, surrounded the enemy, and attacked them during the night. He and his soldiers crushed the invaders and pursued any survivors all the way to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶ After the battle Abram recovered all the spoils the enemy had taken and brought them back with him. He rescued his nephew Lot and brought him back, along with his goods; there were other captives, too, including some women whom he rescued.

¹⁷ After Abram and his men defeated Chedorlaomer and the other kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him on his return at the valley of Shaveh (an area also known as the King’s Valley). ¹⁸ The priest-king of Jerusalem,^[f] Melchizedek, came out to meet him as well and brought out bread and wine for them. Melchizedek was a priest of the One whom he called the “the Most High God.”^{[g] 19} Priest-king Melchizedek offered a special blessing to Abram.

Abram gave the priest-king a tenth of all of the captured goods he was bringing back with him.

15 Some time passed. One day, the word of the Eternal One came to Abram through a vision—a kind of waking dream.

⁴ Immediately the word of the Eternal One came to him.

⁵ God took him outside to show him something.

⁶ Abram believed God and trusted in His promises, so God counted it to his favor as righteousness.^[j]

¹⁰ Abram brought God all of these animals and cut them in two, laying each half next to the other, making two rows. Only the birds were not cut in two. ¹¹ And when any birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, Abram swatted them away.

¹² As the sun was setting in the west, Abram fell into a deep sleep. A terrifying darkness descended upon him.

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the animal carcasses. ¹⁸ With this ritual and on this day, the Eternal One made a covenant with Abram.

16 Despite God’s promise, years went by. Still Abram’s wife Sarai remained childless. But she did have an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar. Sarai had an idea so she approached her husband.

Abram listened to Sarai and agreed to follow her plan. ³ After they had lived 10 years in Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took her servant girl Hagar, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. ⁴ So Abram slept with Hagar. It was not long before she conceived. But as soon as she knew she was pregnant with Abram’s child, Hagar’s attitude changed and she became haughty toward Sarai. ⁵ Sarai would not tolerate her servant looking down on her, so she approached Abram again.

So Sarai clamped down on Hagar severely, and Hagar ran away. ⁷ The Special Messenger of the Eternal One found Hagar alone by a spring of water out in the desert. It was the spring of water along the road that went to Shur.

¹³ As a result of this encounter, Hagar decided to give the Eternal One who had spoken to her a special name because He had seen her in her misery.

¹⁴ Because of this, the well between Kadesh and Bered is called Beer-lahai-roi, which means, “Well of the Living One who watches over me.”

¹⁵ So Hagar returned home and gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named his son (that is, the one born to Hagar) Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was already 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Eternal One appeared to him again, assuring him of the promise of a child yet to come.

³ Abram bowed low, his face and body flat on the ground.

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and erupted into laughter in a moment of private absurdity, as he thought to himself, “Yeah, right! How can a centenarian father a child? Am I supposed to believe that Sarah, my 90-year-old wife, is going to have a baby?”

²² When God was finished talking with Abraham about all of this, He left and Abraham went home. ²³ Abraham immediately took his son Ishmael and all of the slaves born in his household or bought with his money—every single male within his household—and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, just as God had told him to do. ²⁴ Abraham was already 99 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵ His son Ishmael was 13 years old when he received the mark of the covenant. ²⁶ On the day Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised, ²⁷ all men of the household, no matter where they had come from, were circumcised along with them.