The Tower at Babylon

11 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. ² And as men traveled in the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and made their home there. ³ They said to one another, “Come, let us make blocks and burn them until they are hard.” They used blocks for stone, and tar to hold them together. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, with a tower that touches the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, or else we may be sent everywhere over the whole earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “See, they are one people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. Now all they plan to do will be possible for them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and mix up their language so they will not understand what each other says.” ⁸ So the Lord sent them everywhere over the whole earth. And they stopped building the city. ⁹ So the name of the city was Babel, because there the Lord mixed up the language of the whole earth. The Lord sent the people everywhere over the whole earth.

The Families after Shem

¹⁰ These are the children of Shem. When Shem had lived 100 years, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. ¹¹ Shem lived 500 years after the birth of Arpachshad. He had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad lived 403 years after the birth of Shelah. He had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah lived 403 years after the birth of Eber. He had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷ Eber lived 430 years after the birth of Peleg. He had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹ Peleg lived 209 years after the birth of Reu. He had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹ Reu lived 207 years after the birth of Serug. He had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³ Serug lived 200 years after the birth of Nahor. He had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ Nahor lived 119 years after the birth of Terah. He had other sons and daughters.

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

²⁷ Now these are the children of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died with his father Terah beside him in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. The name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai could not give birth. She had no child. ³¹ Terah took his son Abram, and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram and they went together from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan. But when they went as far as Haran, they made their home there. ³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

God Calls Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make you a great nation. I will bring good to you. I will make your name great, so you will be honored. ³ I will bring good to those who are good to you. And I will curse those who curse you. Good will come to all the families of the earth because of you.”

⁴ So Abram left as the Lord told him to do, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, and his brother’s son Lot, and all the things they had gathered, and the people who joined them in Haran. And they left to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the oak of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanite people were living in the land at that time. ⁷ Then the Lord showed Himself to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children and to your children’s children.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord Who had shown Himself to him. ⁸ Then he went from there to the mountain east of Bethel. He put up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram traveled on, still going toward the Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was no food in the land. So Abram went south to Egypt to stay there, because it was very hard to live in the land with no food. ¹¹ When he was about to go into Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “I know that you are a beautiful woman. ¹² When the men of Egypt see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Say that you are my sister. Then it may go well with me because of you. And because of you they will not kill me.”

¹⁴ When Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s rulers saw her and told Pharaoh of her beauty. So the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ And Pharaoh acted well toward Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, and camels, and men and women servants. ¹⁷ But the Lord sent much sickness upon Pharaoh and his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this 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 my wife? Now then, here is your wife.’ Take her and go.” ²⁰ And Pharaoh told his men what to do with Abram. They led him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.