Old/New Testament
10 This is the report about Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their families.
After the deep water went away, they all had children themselves.
Japheth's family
2 These are the sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. 3 These are the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. 4 These are the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim people and the Rodanim people.[a]
5 These people lived by the sea. They lived in groups. Each group went to live in a different place. Each group spoke its own language.
Ham's family
6 These are the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. 7 These are the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. These are the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush was also the father of Nimrod. Nimrod became the first brave soldier in the world. 9 The Lord helped Nimrod to be a great hunter. That is why people say, ‘Like Nimrod, a great hunter that the Lord helped.’
10 The first of Nimrod's lands were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria. This is where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah. 12 He also built Resen. Resen is between Nineveh and Calah, which is a large city. 13 Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites and Caphtorites. The Philistines were descendants of the Kasluhites.[b]
15 Canaan was the father of Sidon, who was born first. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. After some time had passed, the Canaanite families separated to different places. 19 The land of Canaan went from Sidon to Gerar, as far as Gaza. It went to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are all descendants of Ham. They lived in groups in their own parts of the land. Each group spoke their own language.
Shem's family
21 Shem also had sons. Shem was Japheth's older brother. All the sons of Eber are descendants of Shem. 22 These are the sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. 23 These are the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. 24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah. Shelah was the father of Eber. 25 Eber had two sons. The name of one son was Peleg. When he was alive, people began to live in different places on the earth. That is why his name was Peleg.[c] Peleg's brother's name was Joktan.
26 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All those were Joktan's sons. 30 The land where they lived went from Mesha to Sephar. This is in the land with hills in the east. 31 These are the descendants of Shem. They lived in groups in their own parts of the land. Each group spoke their own language.
32 All these people are descendants of Noah's sons, and their children. They went to live in different parts of the earth and their children became different nations. This happened after God covered the earth with water and then the water went away.
The tower in Babel
11 At this time, everyone who lived on the earth spoke one language. They used the same words. 2 People moved to the east. They reached a large flat piece of land called Shinar. They stayed there to live. 3 They said to each other, ‘We should make bricks and cook them until they are hard.’ These people used bricks instead of stones to build houses. They used tar to hold the bricks together, instead of cement.[d]
4 They said, ‘Let us build a city to live in. We should also build a very tall tower. The tower will go up into the heavens. Then we will always be famous. If we do that, we will not have to separate and go to live in different places on the earth.’
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. He saw that the people had started to build them. 6 The Lord said, ‘Because they all speak the same language, they are able to do this. If they can do this together, they may decide to do whatever they want. 7 Now we must go down to them. We must make their language become confused. Then they will not be able to understand each other.’
8 So the Lord separated the people from one another. They went to live in different lands all over the earth. They stopped building the city for themselves. 9 That is why people called the city Babel.[e] It was because the Lord confused all the people of the world and he gave them different languages to speak. From that time, the Lord separated the people from each other so that they lived in different places all over the earth.
Shem's family
10 This is the report about Shem and his family.
Two years after the deep water went away from the earth, Shem was 100 years old. He became the father of Arphaxad. 11 After Arphaxad was born, Shem lived for 500 years. He had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. 13 After Shelah was born, Arphaxad lived for 403 years. He had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. 15 After Eber was born, Shelah lived for 403 years. He had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. 17 After Peleg was born, Eber lived for 430 years. He had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. 19 After Reu was born, Peleg lived for 209 years. He had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21 After Serug was born, Reu lived for 207 years. He had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23 After Nahor was born, Serug lived for 200 years. He had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25 After Terah was born, Nahor lived for 119 years. He had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Terah's family
27 This is the report about Terah and his family.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While Terah was still alive, his son, Haran, died. Haran died in Ur, the land of the Chaldeans. That was where Haran had been born.
29 Abram married Sarai. Nahor married Milcah. Milcah was Haran's daughter. Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai could not give birth to children. She did not have any children.
31 Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot. (Lot was Haran's son.) Terah also took Abram's wife Sarai. They all left Ur, the land of the Chaldeans. They began to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they stayed there. 32 Terah lived for 205 years. Then he died in Haran.
Abram leaves Haran
12 The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you.[f]
2 I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. 3 I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’[g]
4 Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord.[h] He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.
8 Then Abram left Shechem. He went to the hills that are on the east of Bethel. He put up his tent in that place. Bethel was towards the west, and Ai was towards the east. Abram also built an altar there to worship the Lord.
9 Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev.[i]
Abram and Sarai in Egypt
10 There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad.[j]
11 When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.[k] 13 So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’
14 When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace.[l]
16 Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.
17 But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not? 19 You told me “She is my sister”. As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’
20 Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.
The Devil tries to cause Jesus to do wrong things
4 Then the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. While he was there, the Devil came to him. He tried to cause Jesus to do wrong things.[a] 2 Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of this time, he was very hungry.
3 Then the Devil came to Jesus and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, speak to these stones. Tell them to become bread.’ 4 But Jesus replied, ‘No! The Bible says that food alone cannot cause people to live. They need to hear every word that God speaks. That is what gives them true life.’[b]
5 Then the Devil led Jesus to Jerusalem. He made him stand on the highest part of the temple. 6 He said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump down from here to the ground. You know that the Bible says:
“God will tell his angels to keep you safe.
They will hold you safely in their hands.
They will not let you hurt your foot on a stone”.’[c]
7 Jesus replied, ‘No! The Bible also says, “Do not test the Lord God, to see if he will save you”.’[d]
8 Then the Devil led Jesus up a very high mountain. He showed Jesus all the countries in the whole world. They were very great and beautiful. 9 The Devil said, ‘I will give you power over all these countries. Just go down on your knees in front of me. Worship me and I will give it all to you.’
10 Jesus then said to him, ‘Satan, go away from me! The Bible says, “Only worship your Lord God. He is the only one that you should obey”.’
11 Then the Devil left Jesus alone. Immediately angels came to Jesus and they took care of him.
Jesus starts his work in Galilee
12 Then Jesus heard that Herod had put John the Baptist in prison. So Jesus returned to Galilee.
13 But he did not stay in Nazareth. He went to live in Capernaum, which is a town on the shore of Lake Galilee. It was in the part of Israel called Zebulun and Naphtali.[e]
14 This caused God's message to become true. Long ago God had said through his prophet Isaiah:[f]
15 ‘I am speaking to you people who live in Zebulun and Naphtali.[g]
Your part of this country is on the way to Lake Galilee.
It is across the Jordan River in the part of the country called Galilee.
Some people who are not Jews live there.
16 They are like people who are living in the dark.
They live in the shadow which death brings.
God will send a light to shine on them.’
17 Then Jesus began to speak God's message to people. He said, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Do this now, because the kingdom of heaven has come very near.’
Jesus asks some men to become his disciples
18 One day, Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee. He saw two men who were brothers. One man was called Simon, and he was also called Peter. His brother's name was Andrew.[h] Their job was to catch fish. They were throwing their nets into the lake to catch fish. 19 Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me and be my disciples. Then I will teach you how to catch people, instead of fish.’[i]
20 Simon and Andrew immediately put their nets down and they went with Jesus.
21 They continued to walk along the shore. Soon Jesus saw two more men who were brothers. They were called James and John. They were in their boat with their father, Zebedee. They were mending their nets. Jesus said to James and John, ‘Come with me.’ 22 The brothers immediately left the boat and their father behind. They went with Jesus to be his disciples.
Jesus teaches about God and he makes sick people well again
23 Jesus travelled everywhere in Galilee. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He told them the good news about God's kingdom. He also caused sick people to become well again from all their different pains and illnesses. 24 More and more people in all parts of Syria heard about Jesus. So they brought all the sick people to see him. These people had many different illnesses, and some of them had strong pains. Bad spirits were living inside some of them. Some people could not control their bodies, and some people could not walk. Jesus caused all these people to become well again. 25 Because of this, large crowds of people followed him. They came from Galilee and from the region called ‘The ten cities’. Some of them came from Jerusalem, and other parts of Judea. And some came from the other side of the Jordan River.[j]
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