Genesis 11

All 32 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

Read Genesis 11 in the Bible reader, with audio →

  1. 1The entire earth shared a single language and a common vocabulary.
  2. 2As people migrated from the east, they discovered a flat plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
  3. 3They told each other, "Come, let us make bricks and fire them until they are hard." So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
  4. 4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches up to heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we won't be scattered across the whole earth."
  5. 5The LORD came down to observe the city and the tower that the people had constructed.
  6. 6The LORD said, "Look, the people are one, and they all have one language. This is what they have begun to do, and now nothing they plan to do will be kept from them."
  7. 7"Come, let us go down and mix up their language so that none of them can understand what the others are saying."
  8. 8So the LORD scattered them from that place across the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.
  9. 9That is why it was named Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the entire earth. From that place, the LORD dispersed them over the surface of the whole earth.
  10. 10This is the account of Shem's descendants. When Shem was a hundred years old, he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
  11. 11After Arphaxad was born, Shem lived another five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
  12. 12When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he became the father of Salah.
  13. 13After Salah was born, Arphaxad lived another four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.
  14. 14When Salah was thirty years old, he became the father of Eber.
  15. 15After Eber was born, Salah lived another four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.
  16. 16When Eber was thirty-four years old, he became the father of Peleg.
  17. 17After Peleg was born, Eber lived another four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.
  18. 18When Peleg was thirty years old, he became the father of Reu.
  19. 19After Reu was born, Peleg lived another two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.
  20. 20When Reu was thirty-two years old, he became the father of Serug.
  21. 21After Serug was born, Reu lived another two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.
  22. 22When Serug was thirty years old, he became the father of Nahor.
  23. 23After Nahor was born, Serug lived another two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.
  24. 24When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he became the father of Terah.
  25. 25After Terah was born, Nahor lived another hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.
  26. 26When Terah was seventy years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
  27. 27This is the account of Terah's family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot.
  28. 28Haran died during his father Terah's lifetime, in the land where he was born, in Ur of the Chaldees.
  29. 29Both Abram and Nahor married. Abram's wife was named Sarai, and Nahor's wife was named Milcah. Milcah was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
  30. 30Sarai, however, was unable to have children; she had no child.
  31. 31Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot who was Haran's son, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of Abram. Together they departed from Ur of the Chaldees, intending to travel to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there.
  32. 32Terah lived to be two hundred and five years old, and he died in Haran.