| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. | 1Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. |
| 2As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. | 2And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. |
| 3They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) | 3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. |
| 4Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” | 4“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” |
| 5But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. | 5Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. |
| 6“Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! | 6And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. |
| 7Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” | 7Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” |
| 8In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. | 8So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. |
| 9That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world. The Line of Descent from Shem to Abram | 9That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth. |
| 10This is the account of Shem’s family. Two years after the great flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. | 10This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. |
| 11After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters. | 11And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 12When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. | 12When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. |
| 13After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. | 13And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 14When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. | 14When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. |
| 15After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters. | 15And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 16When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. | 16When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. |
| 17After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters. | 17And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 18When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. | 18When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. |
| 19After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters. | 19And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 20When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. | 20When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. |
| 21After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters. | 21And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 22When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. | 22When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. |
| 23After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters. | 23And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 24When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. | 24When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. |
| 25After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters. | 25And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters. |
| 26After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The Family of Terah | 26When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. |
| 27This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. | 27This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. |
| 28But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. | 28During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. |
| 29Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) | 29And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. |
| 30But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children. | 30But Sarai was barren; she had no children. |
| 31One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. | 31And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. |
| 32Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran. | 32Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran. |
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