1 The entire world had one language and common words.

2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar Babylon and settled there.

3 They said to each other: »Let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.« They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

4 Then they said: »Let us build ourselves a city, with a lofty tower that reaches into space, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.«

5 But Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.

6 Jehovah said: »If they become one people speaking the same language, nothing will be impossible for them. They have begun to do this.

7 »Let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.«

8 Jehovah scattered them from there over all the earth. They stopped building the city.

9 That is why it was called Babel confusion because Jehovah confused the language of the whole world. Jehovah scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth.

10 This is the genealogy of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad.

11 After he became the father of Arpachshad, Shem lived five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah.

13 After he became the father of Shelah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.

14 Shelah lived thirty years. He became the father of Eber.

15 After he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg.

17 After he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.

18 When Peleg lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu.

19 After he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug.

21 After he became the father of Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor.

23 After he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years; he became the father of Terah.

25 After he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.

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

27 This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.

29 Abram and Nahor both married. 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 both Milcah and Iscah.

30 Now Sarai was barren. She had no children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

32 Terah lived two hundred and five years. He died in Haran.