Genesis 11

Modern English Version

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² As the people journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top will reach to heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men built. ⁶ The Lord said, “The people are one and they have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; now nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore the name of it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. From there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Shem’s Descendants^(A)

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem.

Shem was a hundred years old, and two years after the flood he became the father of Arphaxad. ¹¹ Shem lived after the birth of Arphaxad five hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁶ Now Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah’s Descendants

²⁷ These are the generations of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became 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, Milkah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Iskah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

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 Harran, they settled there.

³² The days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Harran.