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The whole world had only one language, and everyone spoke it. 2 They moved to the east and found a broad valley in Babylon. There they made their home. 3 They said to one another, ‘Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them well.’ They used bricks instead of stones. They used tar to hold the bricks together. 4 Then they said, ‘Come on! Let's build a city for ourselves. Let's build a tower that reaches to the sky. We'll make a name for ourselves. Then we won't be scattered over the whole earth.’
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 He said, ‘All these people are united and speak the same language. That is why they can do all this. Now they will be able to do anything they plan. 7 Come on! Let us go down and mix up their language. Then they will not be able to understand one another.’
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over the whole earth. And they stopped building the city. 9 There the Lord mixed up the language of the whole world. That's why the city was called Babel. From there the Lord scattered them over the whole earth.
10 Here is the story of Shem's family line.
It was two years after the flood. When Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. 11 After Arphaxad was born, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 After Shelah was born, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 After Peleg was born, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 After Reu was born, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 After Serug was born, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 After Nahor was born, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 After Terah was born, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 Here is the story of Terah's family line.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died in the city of Ur in Babylonia, the land where he was born. Haran died while his father Terah was still alive. 29 Abram and Nahor both got married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai. The name of Nahor's wife was Milkah, the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milkah and Iscah. 30 But Sarai wasn't able to have children.
31 Terah left Ur in Babylon. He took with him his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran. Terah also took his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram. All of them left together to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they made their home there.
32 Terah lived for 205 years. And then he died in Harran.
8:15–11:32 After the flood, the earth was like new. God began life on earth again with Noah and his family. He began it again with the animals that were on the ark. God made a covenant. This was a covenant with Noah and his family and every living thing on earth. Yet the flood didn't destroy the power of sin over human beings. The city of Babel and the tower were examples of how sin continued. People worked together against God. The tower they built showed how full of pride they were. They wanted to stay in the city of Babel instead of filling the earth. Only when they could no longer speak the same language did they spread throughout the world. The family lines of Japheth, Shem and Ham show how this happened. These family lines record the beginnings of many people groups. Genesis continued the record of Noah's family line through Shem. God chose to work through Shem's family line in his plan for saving the world. Abram was part of Shem's family.