Genesis 10-12

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Nations Descended from Noah

10 These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; children were born to them after the flood.

² The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.^{(A) 3} The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The descendants of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.^{[a] 5} From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the descendants of Japheth^[b] in their lands, with their own language, by their families, in their nations.^(B)

⁶ The descendants of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.^{(C) 7} The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”^{(D) 10} The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.^{(E) 11} From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and ¹² Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³ Egypt became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,^{(F) 14} Pathrusim, Casluhim, from whom the Philistines come, and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth^{(G) 16} and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.^{(H) 19} And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.^{(I) 20} These are the descendants of Ham, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

²¹ To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. ²² The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.^{(J) 23} The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.^{(K) 24} Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.^{(L) 25} To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg,^[c] for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.^{(M) 26} Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,^{(N) 27} Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the descendants of Joktan. ³⁰ The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are the descendants of Shem, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

³² These are the families of Noah’s sons, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.^(O)

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as they migrated from the east,^[d] they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{(P) 3} And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”^{(Q) 5} The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.^{(R) 6} And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.^{(S) 7} Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”^{(T) 8} So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.^{(U) 9} Therefore it was called Babel,^[e] because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.^(V)

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood,^{(W) 11} and Shem lived after the birth of Arpachshad five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah, ¹³ and Arpachshad lived after the birth of Shelah four hundred three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber, ¹⁵ and Shelah lived after the birth of Eber four hundred three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg, ¹⁷ and Eber lived after the birth of Peleg four hundred thirty years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu, ¹⁹ and Peleg lived after the birth of Reu two hundred nine years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug, ²¹ and Reu lived after the birth of Serug two hundred seven years and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor, ²³ and Serug lived after the birth of Nahor two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah, ²⁵ and Nahor lived after the birth of Terah one hundred nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Descendants of Terah

²⁷ Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.^(X)

³¹ Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.^{(Y) 32} The days of Terah were two hundred five years, and Terah died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.^{(Z) 2} I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.^{(AA) 3} I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[f](AB)

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.^{(AC) 5} Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,^{(AD) 6} Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak^[g] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.^{(AE) 7} Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.^{(AF) 8} From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord.^{(AG) 9} And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, ¹² and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.^{(AH) 13} Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you and that my life may be spared on your account.”^{(AI) 14} When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.^{(AJ) 16} And for her sake he dealt well with Abram, and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.^(AK)

¹⁷ But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.^{(AL) 18} So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?^{(AM) 19} Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone.” ²⁰ And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him, and they set him on the way with his wife and all that he had.^(AN)