The Daily Audio Bible

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 Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountain (as Moses had done before Him) and He sat down (as Jewish teachers of His day usually did). His disciples gathered around Him.

² And He began to teach them.

Psalm 5

For the worship leader. A song of David accompanied by flutes.^[a]