Old/New Testament
Nations Grow and Spread
10 This is the history of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They are Noah’s sons. These men had children after the flood.
Japheth’s Descendants
2 Japheth’s sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 Gomer’s sons were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 Javan’s sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.[a]
5 All the people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea came from these sons of Japheth. The people separated and went to different countries according to languages, families, and nations.
Ham’s Descendants
6 Ham’s sons were Cush,[b] Mizraim,[c] Put, and Canaan.
7 Cush’s sons were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.
Raamah’s sons were Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush also had a son named Nimrod who became a very powerful man on earth. 9 He was a great hunter before the Lord. That is why people compare other men to him and say, “That man is like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord.”
10 Nimrod’s kingdom spread from Babylon to Erech, to Akkad, and then to Calneh in the land of Babylonia.[d] 11 Nimrod also went into Assyria. In Assyria, Nimrod built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen. (Resen is the city between Nineveh and Calah, the big city.)
13 Mizraim was the father of the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, 14 Pathrus, Casluh, and Caphtor. (The Philistine people came from Casluh.)
15 Canaan was the father of Sidon. Sidon was Canaan’s first son. Canaan was also the father of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, the Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites.
The families of Canaan spread to different parts of the world. 19 The land where the Canaanites lived went from Sidon down along the coast to Gerar and from Gaza as far east as Sodom and Gomorrah and from Admah and Zeboiim as far north as Laish.
20 All these people were descendants of Ham. They are arranged by families, languages, countries, and nations.
Shem’s Descendants
21 Shem was Japheth’s older brother. One of Shem’s descendants was Eber, the father of all the Hebrew people.[e]
22 Shem’s sons were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 Aram’s sons were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah.
Shelah was the father of Eber.
25 Eber was the father of two sons. One son was named Peleg.[f] He was given this name because the earth was divided during his life. The other son was named 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 these people were Joktan’s sons. 30 They lived in the area between Mesha and the hill country in the East.[g] Mesha was toward the country of Sephar.
31 These are the people from the family of Shem. They are arranged by families, languages, countries, and nations.
32 This is the list of the families from Noah’s sons. They are arranged according to their nations. From these families came all the people who spread across the earth after the flood.
The Tower of Babel
11 There was a time when the whole world spoke one language. Everyone used the same words. 2 Then people began to move from the East. They found a plain in the land of Babylonia and stayed there to live. 3 Then they said to each other, “Let’s make some bricks of clay and bake them in the fire.” Then they used these bricks as stones, and they used tar as mortar.
4 Then the people said, “Let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that will reach to the sky. Then we will be famous. This will keep us together so that we will not be scattered all over the earth.”
5 Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. 6 The Lord said, “These people all speak the same language. And I see that they are joined together to do this work. This is only the beginning of what they can do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. 7 Let’s go down and confuse their language. Then they will not understand each other.”
8 So people stopped building the city, and the Lord scattered them all over the earth. 9 That is the place where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. That is why it is called Babel.[h] And it was from there that the Lord caused the people to spread out to all the other places on earth.
The History of Shem’s Family
10 This is the history of Shem’s family. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, his son Arphaxad was born. 11 After that Shem lived 500 years. He had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, his son Shelah was born. 13 After Shelah was born, Arphaxad lived 403 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
14 After Shelah was 30 years old, his son Eber was born. 15 After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
16 After Eber was 34 years old, his son Peleg was born. 17 After Peleg was born, Eber lived another 430 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
18 After Peleg was 30 years old, his son Reu was born. 19 After Reu was born, Peleg lived another 209 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
20 After Reu was 32 years old, his son Serug was born. 21 After Serug was born, Reu lived another 207 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
22 After Serug was 30 years old, his son Nahor was born. 23 After Nahor was born, Serug lived another 200 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
24 After Nahor was 29 years old, his son Terah was born. 25 After Terah was born, Nahor lived another 119 years. During that time he had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran were born.
The History of Terah’s Family
27 This is the history of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. 28 Haran died in his hometown, Ur of Babylonia,[i] while his father Terah was still alive. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. Abram’s wife was named Sarai. Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. Milcah was the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai did not have any children because she was not able to have children.
31 Terah took his family and left Ur of Babylonia. They planned to travel to Canaan. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife). They traveled to the city of Haran and decided to stay there. 32 Terah lived to be 205 years old. He died in Haran.
God Calls Abram
12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country and your people. Leave your father’s family and go to the country that I will show you.
2 I will build a great nation from you.
I will bless you
and make your name famous.
People will use your name
to bless other people.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and I will curse those who curse you.
I will use you to bless
all the people on earth.”
Abram Goes to Canaan
4 So Abram left Haran just like the Lord said, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the slaves, and all the other things he had gotten in Haran. Then he and his group moved to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the town of Shechem and then to the big tree at Moreh. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time.
7 The Lord appeared[j] to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.”
Abram built an altar to honor the Lord who appeared to him there. 8 Then he left that place and traveled to the mountains east of Bethel. He set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai[k] was to the east. Abram built another altar at that place to honor the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. 9 Then he moved on toward the Negev, stopping for a time at several places on the way.
Abram in Egypt
10 During this time there was not enough food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live. 11 Just before they arrived in Egypt, Abram told Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptian men see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me and keep you alive because they want you. 13 So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will be good to me because of you. In this way you will save my life.”
14 So when Abram went into Egypt, the Egyptian men saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 Even some of Pharaoh’s officials noticed her and told Pharaoh how beautiful she was. So they took her to Pharaoh’s house. 16 Pharaoh was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was Sarai’s brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and men and women servants.
17 Pharaoh took Abram’s wife, so the Lord caused Pharaoh and all the people in his house to have very bad diseases. 18 Pharaoh called Abram and said to him, “You have done a very bad thing to me! Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19 You said, ‘She is my sister.’ Why did you say that? I took her so that she could be my wife, but now I give your wife back to you. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh commanded his men to lead Abram out of Egypt. So Abram and his wife left that place and took everything they had with them.
The Temptation of Jesus(A)
4 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert. He was taken there to be tempted by the devil. 2 Jesus ate nothing for 40 days and nights. After this, he was very hungry. 3 The devil[a] came to tempt him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these rocks to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered him, “The Scriptures say,
‘It is not just bread that keeps people alive.
Their lives depend on what God says.’” (B)
5 Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. 6 He said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump off, because the Scriptures say,
‘God will command his angels to help you,
and their hands will catch you,
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” (C)
7 Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”[b]
8 Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all the wonderful things in them. 9 The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Get away from me, Satan! The Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God.
Serve only him!’” (D)
11 So the devil left him. Then some angels came to Jesus and helped him.
Jesus Begins His Work in Galilee(E)
12 Jesus heard that John was put in prison, so he went back to Galilee. 13 But he did not stay in Nazareth. He went to live in Capernaum, a town near Lake Galilee in the area near Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 He did this to give full meaning to what the prophet Isaiah said:
15 “Listen, land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
lands by the road that goes to the sea, the area past the Jordan River—
Galilee, where those from other nations live.
16 The people who live in spiritual darkness
have seen a great light.
The light has shined for those
who live in the land that is as dark as a grave.” (F)
17 From that time Jesus began to tell people his message: “Change your hearts and lives, because God’s kingdom is now very near.[c]”
Jesus Chooses Some Followers(G)
18 As Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Simon’s brother Andrew. These brothers were fishermen, and they were fishing in the lake with a net. 19 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you a different kind of fishermen. You will bring in people, not fish.” 20 Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.
21 Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee. They were preparing their nets to catch fish. Jesus told the brothers to come with him. 22 So they immediately left the boat and their father, and they followed Jesus.
Jesus Teaches and Heals the People(H)
23 Jesus went everywhere in the country of Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. And he healed all the people’s diseases and sicknesses. 24 The news about Jesus spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all those who were sick. They were suffering from different kinds of diseases and pain. Some had demons inside them, some suffered from seizures, and some were paralyzed. Jesus healed them all. 25 Large crowds followed him—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judea, and the area across the Jordan River.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International