Genesis 11-12

New American Standard Bible

The Tower of Babel

11 Now all the earth ^[a]used the same language and ^[b]the same words. ² And it came about, as they journeyed ^[c]east, that they found a plain in the land ^(A)of Shinar and ^[d]settled there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and ^[e]fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used ^(B)tar for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top ^(C)will reach into heaven, and let’s make ^(D)a name for ourselves; otherwise we ^(E)will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.” ⁵ Now ^(F)the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the ^[f]men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have ^[g](G)the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be ^[h]impossible for them. ⁷ Come, ^[i](H)let Us go down and there ^(I)confuse their ^[j]language, so that they will not understand one another’s ^[k]speech.” ⁸ So the Lord ^(J)scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore it was named ^[l](K)Babel, because there the Lord confused the ^[m]language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

^10 (L)These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood; ¹¹ and Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹² Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and fathered Shelah; ¹³ and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Shelah lived thirty years, and fathered Eber; ¹⁵ and Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ Eber lived thirty-four years, and fathered Peleg; ¹⁷ and Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and fathered Reu; ¹⁹ and Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and fathered Serug; ²¹ and Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²² Serug lived thirty years, and fathered Nahor; ²³ and Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and fathered ^(M)Terah; ²⁵ and Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terah lived seventy years, and ^(N)fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and ^(O)Haran fathered ^(P)Lot. ²⁸ Haran died ^[n]during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^(Q)Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and ^(R)Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was ^(S)Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was ^(T)Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah ^[o]and Iscah. ^30 (U)Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.

³¹ Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they departed ^[p]together from ^(V)Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and ^[q]settled there. ³² The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now ^(W)the Lord said to Abram,

⁴ So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and ^(AC)Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their ^(AD)possessions which they had accumulated, and ^(AE)the ^[t]people which they had acquired in Haran, and they ^[u]set out for the land of Canaan; ^(AF)so they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the site of ^(AG)Shechem, to the ^[v]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷ And the Lord ^(AH)appeared to Abram and said, “^(AI)To your ^[w]descendants I will give this land.” So he built ^(AJ)an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with ^(AK)Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(AL)called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward ^(AM)the ^[x]Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was ^(AN)a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was ^(AO)severe in the land. ¹¹ It came about, when he ^[y]was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a ^[z](AP)beautiful woman; ^12 (AQ)and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Please say that you are ^(AR)my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that ^[aa](AS)I may live on account of you.” ¹⁴ Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians ^[ab]saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and ^(AT)the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(AU)he treated Abram well for her sake; and ^[ac](AV)he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(AW)struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “^(AX)What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, ^[ad]here is your wife, take her and go!” ²⁰ And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they ^[ae]escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.