1At one time, everyone on earth spoke the same language and used the same words.
2As people moved eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." So they used bricks instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
4Then they said, "Come, let's build a city for ourselves, and a tower that reaches to the sky. We want to become famous and avoid being scattered all over the earth."
5Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that humans were building.
6Yahweh said, "Look, they are all one people and they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning of what they will do. Now, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7Come, let's go down and confuse their language there so they won't understand each other's speech."
8So Yahweh scattered them from there across the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.
9That is why the city was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of everyone on earth. From that place, Yahweh scattered them across the surface of the whole earth.
10This is the family history of Shem: Shem was 100 years old when his son Arpachshad was born, two years after the flood.
11After Arpachshad was born, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12Arpachshad was 35 years old when his son Shelah was born.
13After Shelah was born, Arpachshad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14Shelah was 30 years old when he had his son Eber.
15After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
16Eber was 34 years old when he had his son Peleg.
17After Peleg was born, Eber lived 430 more years and had other sons and daughters.
18Peleg was 30 years old when he had his son Reu.
19After Reu was born, Peleg lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.
20Reu was 32 years old when he had his son Serug.
21After Serug was born, Reu lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.
22Serug was 30 years old when he had his son Nahor.
23After Nahor was born, Serug lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.
24Nahor was 29 years old when he had his son Terah.
25After Terah was born, Nahor lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26Terah was 70 years old when he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27This is the family history of Terah: Terah had sons named Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran had a son named Lot.
28Haran died in the land where he was born, Ur of the Chaldees, while his father Terah was still alive.
29Abram and Nahor both got married. Abram's wife was Sarai, and Nahor's wife was Milcah. Milcah was the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah.
30Sarai could not have children; she was infertile.
31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram's wife). They left Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there.
32Terah lived for 205 years. He died in Haran.