1 N ow the whole earth had one language and one speech.

2 A nd it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 T hen they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

4 A nd they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 B ut the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

6 A nd the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.

7 C ome, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 S o the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.

9 T herefore its name is called Babel, 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. Shem’s Descendants

10 T his is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.

11 A fter he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 A rphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah.

13 A fter he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

14 S alah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

15 A fter he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

16 E ber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.

17 A fter he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

18 P eleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 A fter he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 R eu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.

21 A fter he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 S erug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

23 A fter he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

24 N ahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.

25 A fter he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

26 N ow Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Terah’s Descendants

27 T his is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.

28 A nd Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29 T hen Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

30 B ut Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 A nd Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.

32 S o the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.