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The Blue Letter Bible

Genesis 11 :: New International Version (NIV)

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The Tower of Babel

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:1

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:1 - Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:2

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:2 - As people moved eastward,[fn] they found a plain in Shinar[fn] and settled there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:3

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:3 - They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:4

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:4 - Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:5

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:5 - But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:6

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:6 - The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:7

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:7 - Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:8

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:8 - So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:9

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:9 - That is why it was called Babel[fn]—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram

(1Ch 1:17–27; Luk 3:34–36 )

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:10

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:10 - This is the account of Shem’s family line. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father[fn] of Arphaxad.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:11

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:11 - And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:12

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:12 - When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:13

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:13 - And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:14

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:14 - When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:15

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:15 - And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:16

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:16 - When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:17

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:17 - And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:18

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:18 - When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:19

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:19 - And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:20

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:20 - When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:21

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:21 - And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:22

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:22 - When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:23

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:23 - And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:24

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:24 - When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:25

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:25 - And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:26

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:26 - After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

Abram’s Family

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:27

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:27 - This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:28

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:28 - While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:29

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:29 - Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:30

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:30 - Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:31

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:31 - 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 Harran, they settled there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Gen 11:32

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 11:32 - Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
Or from the east; or in the east
That is, Babylonia
That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25.
Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
NIV

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.


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For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

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Genesis Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras