Genesis 11

₁All the people on earth spoke the same language and they used the same words. ₂Then some of the people moved to the east. They saw a big valley in the land of Babylon and they decided to stay there. ₃They said to themselves: ‘We must make bricks to build houses.’’

Then they started to build houses with bricks and tar. Before that time, the people had built their houses with stones and clay.

₄They said: ‘We must build a city and a very high tower. The top of the tower must be in heaven. Then everyone will know about us. We must build this city, and then we can all stay here and we will not have to go and stay in different places.’

₅Then the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower that the people were building. ₆And God said: ‘These people are now one nation and they all speak the same language. They have just started to build. After a long time they will be able to do anything that they want to do. ₇Let Us go down there and make them speak different languages, and then they will not understand each other.’

_8-9When that happened, the people stopped building the city and the tower. This is how God separated the people and they all went to stay in different places. That is why the people said the name of the city was Babel, because the Lord gave the people different languages and they could not understand each other.

_10-11It was 2 years after the flood and Shem was 100 years old. He had a son. His name was Arphaxad. Shem had more children and he died when he was 600 years old. Here are the names of his children and descendants.

₁₂When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he had a son. His name was Shelah. ₁₃Arphaxad had more children and he died when he was 438 years old.

₁₄When Shelah was 30 years old, he had a son. His name was Eber. ₁₅Shelah had more children and he died when he was 433 years old.

₁₆When Eber was 34 years old, he had a son. His name was Peleg. ₁₇Eber had more children and he died when he was 464 years old.

₁₈When Peleg was 30 years old, he had a son. His name was Reu. ₁₉Peleg had more children and he died when he was 239 years old.

₂₀When Reu was 32 years old, he had a son. His name was Serug. ₂₁Reu had more children and he died when he was 239 years old.

₂₂When Serug was 30 years old, he had a son. His name was Nahor. ₂₃Serug had more children and he died when he was 230 years old.

₂₄When Nahor was 29 years old, he had a son. His name was Terah. ₂₅Nahor had more children and he died when he was 148 years old.

₂₆When Terah was 70 years old, he had 3 sons. Their names were Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran had a son. His name was Lot.

₂₇Here is the story of Terah.

₂₈Haran died in the land where he was born. The name of his town was Ur in the land of the Chaldeans. His father Terah was still_alive when Haran died.

₂₉Abram married a woman. Her name was Sarai. Nahor married a woman. Her name was Milkah. Milkah was the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milkah and of Iskah. ₃₀Sarai could not have any babies. She did not have any children.

₃₁Terah decided to go away from his town of Ur in the land of the Chaldeans. He wanted to go to the land of Canaan. He took Abram and Sarai with him and his grandson Lot. Lot was the son of Haran.

But on their way they came to the town of Haran. They stayed there, and they did not go to the land of Canaan.

₃₂Terah was 205 years old when he died in the town of Haran.