Genesis 11  Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Tower of Babylon

11 At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary.^{[a] 2} As people^[b] migrated from the east,^[c] they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{(A) 3} They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.^{(B) 4} And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky.^(C) Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down^(D) to look over the city and the tower that the men were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down there and confuse^[d] their language^[e] so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”^{[f] 8} So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth,^(E) and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name is called Babylon,^[g](F) for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram

¹⁰ These are the family records^(G) of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹² Arpachshad lived 35 years^[h] and fathered Shelah. ¹³ After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber. ¹⁵ After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁶ Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁸ Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu. ¹⁹ After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug. ²¹ After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²² Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. ²³ After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁴ Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.^{(H) 25} After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁶ Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai,^(I) and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah.^(J) She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Sarai was unable to conceive;^(K) she did not have a child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans^(L) to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³² Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.