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 genesisWHO WROTE Some scholars debate about who wrote Genesis, THIS BOOK? though many believe Moses is the author. WHY WAS THIS Genesis tells us how God created the universe and BOOK WRITTEN? human beings. It also covers the special promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. WHAT DO WE LEARN God created all things. He loves people, but he will ABOUT GOD IN THIS BOOK? punish sin. God promises to save people who trust him. WHO ARE THE KEY PEOPLE Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and IN THIS BOOK? Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, and Joseph WHERE DID THIS HAPPEN? Genesis 1 – 11 happened in Mesopotamia. Genesis 12 – 36 took place in Canaan, which is also called the promised land. The rest of Genesis took place in Egypt. (See the map at the back of this Bible to find Mount Sinai.) WHAT ARE SOME OF THE God creates the universe Genesis 1 STORIES IN THIS BOOK? God creates Adam and Eve Genesis 2 Adam and Eve sin Genesis 3 Noah builds an ark Genesis 6 God sends a flood to punish sin Genesis 7 – 8 God gives promises to Abraham Genesis 12 Abraham prays for a city Genesis 18 Jacob steals Esau’s blessing Genesis 27 Jacob’s name is changed Genesis 32 Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery Genesis 37 “In the beginning God Joseph becomes a ruler Genesis 39 – 41 created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). PhotoDisc 2 genesis 1:1 T H E B E G I NN I N G 1:1 God was the only one 1 In the be­g in­ning God cre­at­ed the heav­ens and the ­earth. 2 Now the e­ arth was form­less and emp­t y, dark­ ness was over the sur­face of the deep, and the Spir­it of in the beginning. Although everything else has a God was hov­er­ing over the wa­ters. beginning, God has always been 3 And God said, “Let ­there be ­l ight,” and ­there was ­l ight. around. The Bible describes him as 4 G od saw that the ­ l ight was good, and he sep­a ­rat­ everlasting or eternal. That means ed the ­light from the dark­ness. 5 God ­called the ­light he has no beginning, and he has “day,” and the dark­ness he c­ alled “night.” And t­ here no end. was eve­ning, and ­there was morn­ing — ​the ­f irst day. 6 And God said, “Let t­ here be a v­ ault be­t ween the wa­ters 1:3 – 31 to sep­a­rate wa­ter from wa­ter.” 7 So God made the ­vault There was an order and sep­a ­rat­ed the wa­ter un­der the v­ ault from the wa­ to creation. ter ­above it. And it was so. 8 God ­called the ­vault “sky.” On the first three days, God formed And ­there was eve­ning, and ­there was morn­ing — ​the creation with light, water and sky, sec­ond day. land and vegetation. On the final 9 And God said, “Let the wa­ter un­der the sky be gath­ered three days, God filled creation with to one ­place, and let dry ­g round ap­pear.” And it was light givers, fish and birds, and so. 10 God ­called the dry ­g round “land,” and the gath­ animals and humans. ered wa­ters he ­called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land pro­duce veg­e­ta­tion: 1:5 seed-bear­ing p ­ lants and ­trees on the land that bear Creation took six days. ­fruit with seed in it, ac­cord­ing to ­their var­i­ous ­k inds.” Each day could have been 24 hours, And it was so. 12  T he land pro­duced veg­e­ta­tion: ­plants just like we understand a day to bear­ing seed ac­cord­ing to ­their ­k inds and ­trees bear­ be — or the word day could have ing ­fruit with seed in it ac­cord­ing to t­ heir k­ inds. And represented a very long period of God saw that it was good. 13 A nd ­there was eve­ning, time. and ­there was morn­ing — ​the ­third day. 14 And God said, “Let ­there be ­lights in the ­vault of the sky to sep­a ­rate the day from the ­night, and let them ­serve as ­signs to mark s­acred times, and days and y­ ears, 15 a nd let them be ­l ights in the ­v ault of the sky to give ­light on the ­earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two 1:21,24 – 25 ­g reat ­lights — ​the great­er ­light to gov­ern the day and God created all kinds of the less­er ­l ight to gov­ern the ­night. He also made the animals and plants. ­stars. 17 God set them in the v­ ault of the sky to give God created plants and animals ­light on the ­earth, 18 to gov­ern the day and the n ­ ight, with distinct looks and patterns and to sep­a ­rate ­light from dark­ness. And God saw for each family and species. That’s that it was good. 19 A nd ­there was eve­ning, and ­there why the Bible says he created them was morn­ing  — ​the ­fourth day. “according to their kinds.” 20 And God said, “Let the wa­ter teem with liv­ing crea­ tures, and let ­birds fly ­above the ­earth ­across the ­vault of the sky.” 21 So God cre­at­ed the ­g reat crea­t ures of 1:24 the sea and ev­ery liv­ing ­t hing with ­which the wa­ter God created dinosaurs. ­teems and that moves about in it, ac­cord­ing to ­t heir Although Genesis doesn’t mention ­k inds, and ev­ery ­w inged bird ac­cord­ing to its kind. dinosaurs specifically, they were And God saw that it was good. 22 God ­blessed them probably created on the sixth day. and said, “Be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber and fill Several places in the Bible describe the wa­ter in the seas, and let the b ­ irds in­crease on the creatures that may be dinosaurs, ­earth.” 23 A nd ­there was eve­ning, and ­there was morn­ such as a monster (Psalm 74:13), ing  — ​the ­f ifth day. dragon (Revelation 12:3) or 24 And God said, “Let the land pro­duce liv­ing crea­t ures ac­ behemoth (Job 40:15 – 19). cord­ing to ­their ­k inds: the live­stock, the crea­t ures that  genesis 2:3 3 move ­a long the ­g round, and the wild an­i­mals, each ac­cord­ing to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild an­i­mals ac­cord ­ing to ­t heir ­k inds, the live­stock ac­cord­ing to t­heir ­k inds, and all the crea­tures that move ­a long the ­g round ac­cord­ing to ­their ­k inds. And God saw that it was good. 26 T hen God said, “Let us make man­k ind in our im­age, in our like­ness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the ­birds in the sky, over the live­ stock and all the wild an­i­mals, a and over all the crea­ tures that move ­a long the ground.” 1:27 27 So God created mankind in his own image, Humans are special. in the image of God he created them; People are different from male and female he created them. everything else God made because they are made in his image. That 28 God ­blessed them and said to them, “Be fruit­ means we share some of God’s ful and in­crease in num­ber; fill the e­ arth and sub­due characteristics, such as intelligence, it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the b­ irds in the love and creativity. Since each sky and over ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure that ­moves on the person is made in God’s image, ground.” everyone is important to God. 29 T hen God said, “I give you ev­ery seed-bear­ing ­plant on the face of the ­whole ­earth and ev­ery tree that has ­f ruit with seed in it. They will be ­yours for 1:28 food. 30 A nd to all the ­beasts of the ­earth and all the God told humans to take ­birds in the sky and all the crea­t ures that move along care of the earth. the ­g round — ​ev­ery­thing that has the ­breath of life in When God told people to “fill the it — ​I give ev­ery ­g reen ­plant for food.” And it was so. earth and subdue it,” he meant to 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very care for all of creation and use its good. And t­ here was eve­n ing, and t­ here was morn­ resources wisely. ing  — ​the ­sixth day. 2:2 – 3 2 Thus the heav­ens and the e­ arth were com­plet­ed in all ­their vast ar­ray. God rested on the seventh day. 2 By the sev­enth day God had fin­ished the work he had God did not need to rest because been do­ing; so on the sev­enth day he rest­ed from all he was tired. He rested because he his work. 3 T hen God b ­ lessed the sev­enth day and was finished creating the world and made it holy, be­cause on it he rest­ed from all the work everything in it. God also rested of cre­at­ing that he had done. so we would know it’s important a 26  Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Syriac); Masoretic to take a break from work one day Text the earth    each week and worship him. Parallel Days Genesis 1 Day 1: Light Day 4: Sun and moon Day 2: Water and sky Day 5: Fish and birds Day 3: Plant life Day 6: Animals and people Beautiful! God’s power, wisdom and sense of order are revealed in the parallels between days 1–3 and 4–6. 4 genesis 2:4 2:7 ADA M AND E VE 4 T his is the ac­count of the heav­ens and the ­earth when God made the first man they were cre­at­ed, when the Lord God made the e­ arth out of dust. and the heav­ens. Both animals and people were 5 Now no ­shrub had yet ap­p eared on the ­earth a and no created out of the ground with God’s breath of life. ­ lant had yet ­sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent p rain on the e­ arth and t­ here was no one to work the g­ round, 6  but ­s treams  b came up from the ­ earth and wa­tered the 2:8,10 – 14 ­whole sur­face of the ­g round. 7 T hen the Lord God ­formed The location of Eden a man c from the dust of the ­g round and b ­ reathed into his Eden was probably in the country nos­trils the b ­ reath of life, and the man be­came a liv­ing we know today as Iraq. The location be­ing. of the rivers tells us that Eden also 8 Now the Lord God had plant­ed a gar­den in the east, in could have been an area through Eden; and ­there he put the man he had ­formed. 9 The Lord Egypt and Ethiopia. God made all ­k inds of ­trees grow out of the ­g round — ​­trees that were pleas­ing to the eye and good for food. In the mid­ 2:9 dle of the gar­den were the tree of life and the tree of the knowl­edge of good and evil. The tree of life 10 A riv­er wa­ter­ing the gar­den ­f lowed from Eden; from This tree was in the middle of the ­there it was sep­a ­rat­ed into four head­wa­ters. 11 T he name of Garden of Eden. It had special the f­ irst is the Pi­shon; it w ­ inds ­through the en­tire land of fruit. Anyone who ate it would live Hav ­i ­lah, ­where ­t here is gold. 12 ( The gold of that land is forever. God gave Adam and Eve good; ar­o­mat­ic res­in  d and onyx are also ­there.) 13 T he name access to the tree of life because he of the sec­ond riv­er is the Gi­hon; it ­w inds ­through the en­tire wanted them to have eternal life. land of Cush. e 14 T he name of the ­third riv­er is the Ti­g ris; it runs ­a long the east side of Ash­u r. And the ­fourth riv­er is the Eu­phra­tes. 15 T he Lord God took the man and put him in the Gar­ den of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 A nd the Lord God com­mand­ed the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the gar­den; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowl­edge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will cer­tain­ly die.” 18 T he Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be ­a lone. I will make a help­er suit­able for him.” © annat zisovich/Shutterstock 19 Now the Lord God had f­ ormed out of the ­g round all the wild an­i­mals and all the ­birds in the sky. He ­brought 2:17 them to the man to see what he ­would name them; and Good and evil what­ev­er the man ­called each liv­ing crea­t ure, that was its God warned Adam and Eve not to name. 20 So the man gave ­names to all the live­stock, the eat from the tree of the knowledge ­birds in the sky and all the wild an­i­mals. of good and evil. Adam and Eve But for Adam f no suit­able help­er was ­found. 21 So the already knew right from wrong. Lord God c­ aused the man to fall into a deep s­ leep; and But they hadn’t seen evil. God was ­while he was sleep­ing, he took one of the ­man’s ribs g and testing if they would obey. then ­c losed up the p ­ lace with f­ lesh. 22 T hen the Lord God made a wom­an from the rib h he had tak­en out of the man, and he ­brought her to the man. 2:18,20 23 T he man said, Adam needed a helper. All of God’s other creatures had “This is now bone of my bones been created in pairs, but Adam was and flesh of my flesh; alone. Eve would provide friendship a 5 Or land ; also in verse 6    b 6 Or mist    c 7  The Hebrew for man and help for Adam, and together (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah) ; it is also the name Adam (see verse 20).    d 12 Or good; pearls    they would carry on the human race. e 13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia    f 20 Or the man    g 21 Or took part of the man’s side    h 22 Or part     genesis 3:15 5 she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 T hat is why a man ­leaves his fa­ther and moth­er and is unit­ed to his wife, and they be­come one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both na­ked, and they felt no 3:1 shame. The serpent Satan, or the devil, took the form of T H E FA L L a snake to tempt Adam and Eve. 3 Now the ser­pent was more ­crafty than any of the wild an­i­mals the Lord God had made. He said to the wom­an, “Did God real­ly say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the gar­den’?” 2 T he wom­a n said to the ser­pent, “We may eat ­f ruit from the t­ rees in the gar­den, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat ­fruit from the tree that is in the mid­d le of the gar­den, and you must not ­touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “ You will not cer­tain­ly die,” the ser­pent said to the wom­an. 5 “For God k­ nows that when you eat from it your eyes will be o­ pened, and you will © Eric Isselee/Shutterstock be like God, know­ing good and evil.” 6 W hen the wom­a n saw that the ­f ruit of the tree was good for food and pleas­ing to the eye, and 3:1 – 6 also de­sir­able for gain­ing wis­dom, she took some and ate The conversation with the it. She also gave some to her hus­band, who was with her, serpent and he ate it. 7 T hen the eyes of both of them were o­ pened, Eve was the one who talked to the and they re­a l­ized they were na­ked; so they ­sewed fig l­ eaves serpent. And it seems from verse six to­geth­er and made cov­er­ings for them­selves. that Adam was with Eve. If he wasn’t 8 T hen the man and his wife h ­ eard the s­ound of the there, then he made the decision to Lord God as he was walk­ing in the gar­den in the cool disobey without the pressure from of the day, and they hid from the Lord God ­a mong the the serpent. They were both guilty ­trees of the gar­den. 9 But the Lord God c­ alled to the man, of disobeying God. “Where are you?” 10 He an­s wered, “I h­ eard you in the gar­den, and I was ­a fraid be­cause I was na­ked; so I hid.” 3:4 11 A nd he said, “Who told you that you were na­ The serpent’s lies ked? Have you eat­en from the tree that I com­mand­ed you not The serpent told Adam and Eve that to eat from?” their eyes would be opened and 12 T he man said, “The wom­a n you put here with me — ​ they would become like God. He she gave me some ­fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” said they would know good from 13 T hen the Lord God said to the wom­a n, “What is this evil. Their eyes were opened, but you have done?” the result was different from what The wom­an said, “The ser­pent de­ceived me, and I ate.” the serpent promised. 14 S o the Lord God said to the ser­p ent, “Be­c ause you have done this, 3:8 God visited Adam “Cursed are you above all livestock and Eve. and all wild animals! God is a spirit, which means he You will crawl on your belly doesn’t have a body like humans. and you will eat dust So we don’t know if God actually all the days of your life. “walked” in the garden — the verse 15 And I will put enmity might say that just so humans can between you and the woman, better understand. But it is clear that and between your offspring a and hers; God was really there in the garden, a 15 Or seed    and he talked with Adam and Eve. 6 genesis 3:16 3:12 – 13 he will crush a your head, and you will strike his heel.” Adam and Eve responded to God. 16 To the wom­an he said, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; blamed the serpent. Neither took with painful labor you will give birth to children. responsibility for their actions. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 3:14 – 15 17 To Adam he said, “Be­cause you lis­tened to your wife The meaning of God’s and ate fruit from the tree ­about ­which I com­mand­ed you, curse ‘You must not eat from it,’ God cursed the serpent to crawl on its belly and fight with humans. The “Cursed is the ground because of you; promise that Eve’s children would through painful toil you will eat food from it crush the serpent’s head hints at all the days of your life. salvation through Jesus’ death on 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, the cross. (See Romans 16:20.) and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow 3:17 – 19 you will eat your food until you return to the ground, The meaning of God’s since from it you were taken; words to Adam for dust you are God told Adam that because of sin, and to dust you will return.” it would be difficult and painful work to get food. And God said that 20 A dam b n ­ amed his wife Eve, c be­cause she ­would be­ when Adam died, his body would come the moth­er of all the liv­ing. go back to the dust of the ground. 21 T he Lord God made gar­ments of skin for Adam and his wife and ­c lothed them. 22 A nd the Lord God said, 4:3 – 5 “The man has now be­come like one of us, know­ing good and evil. He must not be al­lowed to ­reach out his hand and Abel’s offering vs. Cain’s take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for­ev­er.” 23 So offering the Lord God ban­ished him from the Gar­den of Eden to Both a plant offering and an animal work the ­g round from ­which he had been tak­en. 24  A f­ter he offering were acceptable to God, ­d rove the man out, he p ­ laced on the east side d of the Gar­ but Cain’s offering was not made den of Eden cher­u­bim and a flam­ing ­sword flash­ing back with a pure heart. He did not give and ­forth to ­g uard the way to the tree of life. his best. Abel pleased God because he offered his best animals. CAIN AND ABEL 4 Adam b made love to his wife Eve, and she be­came preg­nant and gave ­birth to Cain. e She said, “With the help of the Lord I have ­brought ­forth   f a man.” 2 Lat­er she gave ­birth to his broth­er Abel. Now Abel kept ­f locks, and Cain ­worked the soil. 3 I n the ­ course of time Cain ­brought some of the ­fruits of the soil as an of­fer­ing to the Lord. 4 A nd Abel also ­brought an of­fer­ing — ​fat por­tions from some of the first­born of his f­ lock. The Lord ­looked with fa­vor on Abel and his of­fer­ing, 5 but on Cain and his of­fer­ing he did not look with fa­vor. So Cain was very an­g ry, and his face was down­cast. 6 T hen the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you an­g ry? a 15 Or strike    b 20,1 Or The man    c 20  Eve probably means living.    (left) PhotoDisc: Siede d 24 Or placed in front    e 1  Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought Preis; (right) © Eric Isselee/ Shutterstock forth or acquired.    f 1 Or have acquired     genesis 4:14 7 Why is your face down­cast? 7 If you do what is ­r ight, will you not be ac­cept­ed? But if you do not do what is r­ ight, sin is crouch­ing at your door; it de­sires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Now Cain said to his broth­ er Abel, “Let’s go out to the ­f ield.”  a ­W hile they were in the ­f ield, Cain at­tacked his broth­er Abel and ­k illed him. 9 T hen the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your broth­er Abel?” “I ­don’t know,” he re­plied. “Am I my broth­er’s keep­er?” 10 T he Lord said, “What have you done? Lis­ten! Your 4:11 – 12 broth­er’s ­blood ­c ries out to me from the g­ round. 11 Now God’s curse on Cain you are un­der a ­curse and driv­en from the ­g round, ­which Cain had made his living as a ­opened its ­mouth to re­ceive your broth­er’s ­blood from your farmer, growing food from the hand. 12 W hen you work the ­g round, it will no lon­ger ­y ield ground. But now the ground was its ­c rops for you. You will be a rest­less wan­der­er on the soaked with his brother’s blood, earth.” so God said the ground would no 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My pun­ish­ment is more than longer produce any crops for Cain. I can bear. 14 To­day you are driv­ing me from the land, and Instead of staying with his family, a 8  Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text Cain was forced to wander the does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”    earth. SE T T I N G O F G ENES I S Bl a ck Se a Ar a r a t M t. Ed en ? Caspian Sea T U R K E Y Harran I R A N Ti g Za Eu p ris SYRIA hra gr os R. LEBANON tes M R ts Mediterranean . . Sea I R A Q Babel ISRAEL Bethel Shechem Jerusalem Ur of the Hebron Chaldeans Beersheba Ed e n? JORDAN P G ers S A U D I ul ia f n Si na i A R A B I A 0 200 km. Re d Ni 0 200 miles le Sea R. 8 genesis 4:15 I will be hid­den from your pres­ence; I will be a rest­less wan­der­er on the e­ arth, and who­ev­er ­f inds me will kill me.” 4:15 15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so a; any­one who ­k ills The mark on Cain Cain will suf­fer ven­geance sev­en ­times over.” Then the The Bible doesn’t say what kind of Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who f­ound him mark God placed on Cain, but it was ­would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s pres­ a warning sign to protect him from ence and ­l ived in the land of Nod, b east of Eden. 17 Cain made love to his wife, and she be­came preg­nant anyone wanting to kill him. and gave b ­ irth to ­Enoch. Cain was then build­ing a city, and he ­named it af­ter his son ­Enoch. 18 To ­Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the fa­t her of Me­hu­ja­el, and Me­hu­ja­el was the fa­ther of Me­thu­sha­el, and Me­thu­sha­el was the fa­ ther of La­mech. 4:19 19 L a­mech mar­r ied two wom­en, one ­n amed Adah and Marrying more than one the oth­er Zil ­lah. 20 Adah gave ­birth to Ja­bal; he was the woman fa­ther of t­ hose who live in t­ents and r­ aise live­stock. 21 His Having more than one wife was broth­er’s name was Ju­bal; he was the fa­ther of all who play common in ancient times, but God ­stringed in­stru­ments and ­pipes. 22 Zil­lah also had a son, created marriage to be between Tu­bal-Cain, who ­forged all ­k inds of ­tools out of c ­bronze one man and one woman, like and iron. Tu­bal-­Cain’s sis­ter was Na­a­mah. 23 L a­mech said to his wives, Adam and Eve. Having more than one wife sometimes caused “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; problems for husbands in Old wives of Lamech, hear my words. Testament times. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. 24 If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” 25 Adam made love to his wife a ­ gain, and she gave ­birth to a son and n ­ amed him Seth, d say­ing, “God has grant­ed me an­oth­er ­child in ­place of Abel, ­since Cain ­k illed him.” 26 S eth also had a son, and he ­named him Enosh. At that time peo­ple be­gan to call on e the name of the Lord. FROM ADA M TO NOAH 5:5 – 32 5 This is the writ­ten ac­count of ­Adam’s fam­i ­ly line. When God cre­at­ed man­k ind, he made them in the like­ People lived a long time. ness of God. 2 He cre­at­ed them male and fe­male and b ­ lessed God’s original plan was that people them. And he named them “Man­k ind” f when they were would live forever. When Adam and created. Eve sinned, death was a result, and 3 W hen Adam had ­lived 130 ­years, he had a son in his the length of human life gradually own like­ness, in his own im­age; and he ­named him Seth. shortened. 4 A f­ter Seth was born, Adam ­l ived 800 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 5 A l­to­geth­er, Adam ­l ived a to­tal of 930 5:24 ­years, and then he died. 6 W hen Seth had ­lived 105 ­years, he be­came the fa­t her g Enoch did not die. of ­Enosh. 7 A f­ter he be­came the fa­ther of ­Enosh, Seth l­ ived Enoch had a very close relationship 807 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 8 A l­to­geth­er, with God. The Bible tells us that Seth ­l ived a to­tal of 912 ­years, and then he died. Enoch’s life on earth ended in a very unusual way: God took him a 15  Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well    b 16  Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14).    c 22 Or who instructed all who work in    away without Enoch experiencing d 25  Seth probably means granted.    e 26 Or to proclaim    f 2 Hebrew death. adam    g 6  Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 7-26.     genesis 6:3 9 9 W hen ­Enosh had ­lived 90 ­years, he be­came the fa­ther of Ke­nan. 10 A f­ter he be­came the fa­ther of Ke­nan, ­Enosh ­lived 815 ­years and had oth­er Over a Year sons and daugh­ters. 11  A l­to­geth­er, ­Enosh ­l ived a to­tal of 905 ­years, and then he died. on the Ark 12 W hen Ke­nan had ­l ived 70 ­years, he be­came the fa­t her of Ma ­ha ­la ­lel. 13 A f­ter he be­came the Genesis 6–8 fa­t her of Ma ­ha ­la ­lel, Ke­nan ­l ived 840 ­years and Noah spends 375 days on had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 14  A l­to­geth­er, Ke­ the ark; here’s how those nan ­l ived a to­tal of 910 ­years, and then he died. 15  days break down: W hen Ma­h a­la­lel had ­lived 65 ­years, he be­came the fa­ther of Ja­red. 16  A f ­ter he be­came 7 days Noah enters the fa­t her of Ja ­red, Ma ­ha ­l a ­lel ­l ived 830 ­years the ark one and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 17  A l­to­geth­ week before er, Ma­ha­la­lel ­l ived a to­tal of 895 ­years, and then the flood he died. 18 W hen Ja­red had l­ived 162 y ­ ears, he be­came 40 days Springs surge the fa­ther of E ­ noch. 19 A f­ter he be­came the fa­ther and rains fall for of E ­ noch, Ja­red ­lived 800 y­ ears and had oth­er 40 days and 40 sons and daugh­ters. 20  A l­to­geth­er, Ja ­red ­l ived a nights to­tal of 962 y­ ears, and then he died. 21 W hen ­Enoch had ­lived 65 ­years, he be­came the fa­ther of Me­thu­se­lah. 22 A f­ter he be­came the 150 days The water fa­t her of Me­t hu­se­lah, ­Enoch ­walked faith­f ul­ recedes; the ly with God 300 ­years and had oth­er sons and ark rests on daugh­ters. 23  A l­to­geth­er, ­Enoch ­l ived a to­tal of Mount Ararat 365 ­years. 24 Enoch ­walked faith­f ul­ly with God; then he was no more, be­cause God took him away. 25 W hen Me­t hu­s e­lah had l­ived 187 y ­ ears, he be­came the fa­ther of La­mech. 26  A f­ter he be­came 178 days the fa­t her of La­mech, Me­t hu­s e­l ah ­l ived 782 The water continues to ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 27 A l­ recede; Noah to­geth­er, Me­t hu­se­lah ­l ived a to­tal of 969 ­years, releases birds and then he died. from the ark; 28 W hen La­mech had ­lived 182 y ­ ears, he had when the a son. 29 He ­named him Noah a and said, “He birds do not return, Noah will com­fort us in the la­bor and pain­f ul toil of leaves the ark our ­hands ­caused by the g­ round the Lord has ­c ursed.” 30 A f­ter Noah was born, La­mech ­lived 595 ­years and had oth­er sons and daugh­ters. 31  A l­to­geth­er, La­mech ­l ived a to­tal of 777 ­years, and then he died. 32 A f­ ter Noah was 500 ­years old, he be­came the fa­ther of Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth. W I C K E D NESS I N T H E   W O R L D 6 When hu­man be­ings be­g an to in­c rease in num­b er on the ­e arth and daugh­ters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daugh­ters of hu­mans were beau­ti­f ul, and they mar­ried any of them they ­chose. 3 T hen the Lord said, “My Spir­it will not con­tend with b hu­mans ­for­e v­er, for they are mor­tal c; ­their days will be a hun­d red and twen­t y years.” a 29  Noah sounds like the Hebrew for comfort.    b 3 Or My spirit will not remain in    c 3 Or corrupt    10 genesis 6:4 6:4 4 T he Neph­i­lim were on the e ­ arth in t­ hose days — ​a nd also af­ter­ward — ​when the sons of God went to the daugh­ Nephilim ters of hu­mans and had chil­d ren by them. They were the Nephilim were people who were he­roes of old, men of re­nown. very tall, strong and powerful. They 5 T he Lord saw how ­g reat the wick­ed­ness of the hu­man were known as heroes because of race had be­come on the ­earth, and that ev­ery in­cli­na­tion of their power as rulers. the t­ houghts of the hu­man ­heart was only evil all the time. 6 T he Lord re­g ret­ted that he had made hu­man be­ings on 6:7 the ­earth, and his ­heart was deep­ly trou­bled. 7 So the Lord God destroyed other said, “I will wipe from the face of the ­earth the hu­man race creatures beside humans I have cre­at­ed — ​and with them the an­i­mals, the ­birds and with the flood. the crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­ground — ​for I re­gret that Human sin contaminated I have made them.” 8 But Noah ­found fa­vor in the eyes of everything God had made. So the the Lord. animal world also shared in God’s N OAH AN D TH E FLO O D judgment. 9 T his is the ac­count of Noah and his fam­i ­ly. Noah was a righ­teous man, blame­less ­among the peo­ple of his time, and he ­walked faith­f ul­ly with God. 10 Noah had ­three sons: Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth. 11 Now the e ­ arth was cor­r upt in ­God’s ­sight and was full of vi­o­lence. 12 God saw how cor­r upt the ­earth had be­come, for all the peo­ple on ­earth had cor­r upt­ed ­their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am go­ing to put an end to all peo­ ple, for the e­ arth is ­f illed with vi­o­lence be­cause of them. I 6:14 am sure­ly go­ing to de­stroy both them and the e­ arth. 14 So The ark make your­self an ark of cy­press a wood; make r­ ooms in it This ark is the ship God told Noah and coat it with ­pitch in­side and out. 15 T his is how you are to build. It was about 450 feet long, to b ­ uild it: The ark is to be ­three hun­d red cu­bits long, fif­t y 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. cu­bits wide and thir­t y cu­bits high. b 16 Make a roof for it, leav­ing be­low the roof an open­ing one cu­bit c high all ­a round. d Put a door in the side of the ark and make low­er, mid­d le and up­p er ­decks. 17 I am go­ing to ­bring flood­wa­ters on the ­earth to de­stroy all life un­der the heav­ens, ev­ery crea­t ure that has the ­breath of life in it. Ev­ery­ thing on ­earth will per­ish. 18 But I will es­tab­lish my cov­enant with you, and you will en­ter the ark — ​you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ ­w ives with you. 19 You are to ­bring into the ark two of all liv­ing crea­t ures, male and fe­male, to keep them a­ live with you. 20 Two of ev­ery kind of bird, of ev­ery kind of an­i­mal and of ev­ery kind of crea­ture that ­moves ­a long the ­g round will come to you to be kept ­a live. 21 You are to take ev­ery kind of food that is to be eat­en and ­store it away as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did ev­ery­t hing just as God com­mand­ed him. a 14  The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.    b 15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high    c 16  That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters    d 16  The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.     genesis 7:24 11 7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your ­whole fam­i­ly, be­cause I have ­found you righ­teous in this gen­er­a­tion. 2 Take with you sev­en ­pairs of ev­ery kind 7:2 of ­c lean an­i­mal, a male and its mate, and one pair of ev­ Clean and unclean animals ery kind of un­c lean an­i­mal, a male and its mate, 3 and also God gave his people laws about sev­en p ­ airs of ev­ery kind of bird, male and fe­male, to keep what to eat, and he said that some ­their var­i­ous ­k inds ­a live through­out the ­earth. 4  Sev­en days animals were unclean or impure. from now I will send rain on the ­earth for for­t y days and God knew which food was the best for­t y ­nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ­earth ev­ery for humans to eat at that time. The liv­ing crea­t ure I have made.” laws would have made sense then. 5 A nd Noah did all that the Lord com­mand­ed him. (See Leviticus 5:2 and Leviticus 11.) 6 Noah was six hun­d red ­years old when the flood­wa­ters came on the ­earth. 7 A nd Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ ­w ives en­tered the ark to es­cape the wa­ters of 7:2 – 3 the ­f lood. 8 Pairs of c­ lean and un­c lean an­i­mals, of b­ irds and Noah brought more clean of all crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­g round, 9 male and fe­ animals on the ark. male, came to Noah and en­tered the ark, as God had com­ In addition to repopulating the mand­ed Noah. 10 A nd af­ter the sev­en days the flood­wa­ters earth after the flood, the clean came on the earth. animals were also used as food 11 I n the six hun­d redth year of No­a h’s life, on the sev­ while on the ark, and afterward as en­teenth day of the sec­ond ­month — ​on that day all the sacrifices to God. ­springs of the ­g reat deep b ­ urst ­forth, and the flood­gates of the heav­ens were o­ pened. 12 A nd rain fell on the e­ arth for­t y 7:8 – 9 days and for­t y nights. How Noah got all those 13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and animals on board the ark Ja­pheth, to­geth­er with his wife and the ­w ives of his ­three The Bible tells us the animals came sons, en­tered the ark. 14 T hey had with them ev­ery wild to Noah. We don’t know for sure, an­i­mal ac­cord­ing to its kind, all live­stock ac­cord­ing to but maybe God gave the animals ­their k­ inds, ev­ery crea­ture that m ­ oves a­ long the g­ round instincts to know that a disaster was ac­cord­ing to its kind and ev­ery bird ac­cord­ing to its kind, coming. ev­ery ­t hing with ­w ings. 15 Pairs of all crea­t ures that have the ­breath of life in them came to Noah and en­tered the ark. 16 T he an­i­mals go­ing in were male and fe­male of ev­ ery liv­ing ­thing, as God had com­mand­ed Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. 17 For for­t y days the ­f lood kept com­ing on the ­earth, and as the wa­ters in­creased they lift­ed the ark high a­ bove the ­earth. 18 The wa­ters rose and in­creased great­ly on the ­earth, and the ark float­ed on the sur­face of the wa­ter. 19 T hey rose great­ly on the ­earth, and all the high moun­tains un­der the en­tire heav­ens were cov­ered. 20 The wa­ters rose and cov­ered the moun­tains to a d ­ epth of more than fif­teen cu­bits. a , b  21  Ev­ery liv­ing ­t hing that ­moved on land per­ished  — ​­birds, live­stock, wild an­i­mals, all the crea­t ures that ­swarm over the ­earth, and all man­k ind. 22 Ev­ery­thing on dry land that had the ­breath of life in its nos­trils died. 23  Ev­ery liv­ing 7:23 ­t hing on the face of the e­ arth was w ­ iped out; peo­ple and Fish and other sea animals an­i­mals and the crea­t ures that move ­a long the g­ round and were safe during the the ­birds were w ­ iped from the ­earth. Only Noah was left, flood. and ­those with him in the ark. The Bible says only animals that 24 T he wa­ters flood­ed the ­earth for a hun­d red and fif­t y lived on land and birds were days. destroyed. a 20  That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters    b 20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered    12 genesis 8:1 8:1 The story changed after 8 But God re­mem­bered Noah and all the wild an­i­mals and the live­stock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the ­earth, and the wa­ters re­ced­ed. 2 Now the the flood. ­springs of the deep and the flood­gates of the heav­ens had Before this point, the flood story been ­closed, and the rain had ­stopped fall­ing from the sky. has been about God’s judgment. 3 T he wa­ter re­ced­ed steadi­ly from the ­earth. At the end of Now the story becomes one of the hun­dred and fif­t y days the wa­ter had gone down, 4 and redemption. When the Bible says on the sev­en­teenth day of the sev­enth ­month the ark came that God remembered Noah, to rest on the moun­tains of Ar­a­rat. 5 The wa­ters con­tin­ued it doesn’t mean that God had to re­cede un­til the ­tenth ­month, and on the ­f irst day of the forgotten him. Instead, it means ­tenth ­month the tops of the moun­tains be­came vis­i­ble. that God honored his promise to 6 A f­ter for­t y days Noah o ­ pened a win­dow he had made Noah. in the ark 7 and sent out a ra­ven, and it kept fly­ing back and ­forth un­t il the wa­ter had d ­ ried up from the e­ arth. 8 T hen 8:4 he sent out a dove to see if the wa­ter had re­ced­ed from the sur­face of the g­ round. 9 But the dove c­ ould find no­where Location of the mountains to ­perch be­cause ­there was wa­ter over all the sur­face of the of Ararat ­earth; so it re­t urned to Noah in the ark. He r­ eached out his This mountain range was north of hand and took the dove and ­brought it back to him­self in Mesopotamia and east of modern the ark. 10 He wait­ed sev­en more days and ­again sent out Turkey. the dove from the ark. 11 W hen the dove re­t urned to him in the eve­ning, t­ here in its beak was a fresh­ly ­plucked ol­ive 8:6 – 12 leaf ! Then Noah knew that the wa­ter had re­ced­ed from the Noah sent out birds. ­earth. 12 He wait­ed sev­en more days and sent the dove out First, Noah sent out a raven, but it ­again, but this time it did not re­t urn to him. 13 By the ­f irst day of the f­ irst ­month of No­a h’s six hun­ didn’t give him a clear answer. The dove ate only leaves, so it could dred and f­ irst year, the wa­ter had d ­ ried up from the e­ arth. better tell Noah that land and Noah then re­moved the cov­er­ing from the ark and saw that vegetation had reappeared. the sur­face of the g­ round was dry. 14  By the twen­t y-sev­enth day of the sec­ond ­month the ­earth was com­plete­ly dry. 15 T hen God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and t­ heir w ­ ives. 17 Bring out ev­ery kind of liv­ing crea­t ure that is with you — ​the ­birds, the an­i­mals, and all the crea­tures that move a­ long the ­g round — ​so they can mul­ti­ply on the ­earth and be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber on it.” 18 S o Noah came out, to­geth­er with his sons and his wife and his sons’ ­w ives. 19 A ll the an­i­mals and all the crea­t ures that move ­a long the ­g round and all the ­birds — ​ev­ery­thing that m ­ oves on land — ​came out of the ark, one kind af­ter an­oth­er. 20 T hen Noah ­ built an al­tar to the Lord and, tak­ing © Epitavi/Shutterstock some of all the ­c lean an­i­mals and ­c lean ­birds, he sac­ri­f iced ­burnt of­fer­ings on it. 21 T he Lord ­smelled the pleas­ing 8:11 aro­ma and said in his ­heart: “Nev­er ­again will I ­curse the ­g round be­cause of hu­mans, even ­though a ev­ery in­c li­na­tion Why an olive leaf is special of the hu­man h ­ eart is evil from child­hood. And nev­er ­again Olive trees grow at lower elevation. will I de­stroy all liv­ing crea­t ures, as I have done. The fresh leaf from the dove told Noah that the water was low 22 “As long as the earth endures, enough for olive trees to grow seedtime and harvest, again. cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” a 21 Or humans, for     genesis 9:22 13 G O D ’ S C O V EN A N T W I T H N O A H 8:21 – 22 9 Then God ­blessed Noah and his sons, say­ing to them, “Be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber and fill the e­ arth. 2 T he fear and ­d read of you will fall on all the ­beasts of the God promised to never again destroy all living things. ­earth, and on all the ­birds in the sky, on ev­ery crea­t ure that God was pleased with Noah’s ­moves ­a long the ­g round, and on all the fish in the sea; they sacrifice, but he knew that humans are giv­en into your ­hands. 3  Ev­ery ­thing that ­lives and ­moves would continue to sin. He was about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the g­ reen ­plants, I now give you ev­ery­thing. showing forgiveness and grace 4 “ But you must not eat meat that has its life­blood ­still in for life on earth. He promised that it. 5 A nd for your life­blood I will sure­ly de­mand an ac­count­ the normal cycles of nature would ing. I will de­mand an ac­count­ing from ev­ery an­i­mal. And continue until the end of time. from each hu­man be­ing, too, I will de­mand an ac­count­ing for the life of an­oth­er hu­man be­ing. 9:1,7 6 “Whoever God’s instructions to sheds human blood, Noah and his family by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God God told Noah and his family to be has God made mankind. fruitful and multiply and take care of the earth, just like he had told 7 A s for you, be fruit­f ul and in­crease in num­ber; mul­ti­ply on Adam and Eve. (See Genesis 1:28.) the ­earth and in­crease upon it.” 9:2 – 3 8 T hen God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “ I now es­tab­l ish my cov­enant with you and with your de­scen­ dants af­ter you 10 a nd with ev­ery liv­ing crea­t ure that was Why animals feared with you — ​the ­birds, the live­stock and all the wild an­i­mals, humans all ­those that came out of the ark with you — ​ev­ery liv­ing Sin brought violence into the crea­t ure on ­earth. 11 I es­tab­l ish my cov­enant with you: Nev­ world. God made humankind to er ­again will all life be de­stroyed by the wa­ters of a ­f lood; rule over all creation, including nev­er ­again will ­there be a ­f lood to de­stroy the earth.” the animal world. God also gave 12 A nd God said, “This is the sign of the cov­ enant I Noah permission to eat animal am mak­ing be­tween me and you and ev­ery liv­ing crea­ meat. ture with you, a cov­enant for all gen­er­a­t ions to come: 13 I have set my rain­bow in the ­c louds, and it will be the sign 9:4 of the cov­enant be­t ween me and the ­earth. 14  W hen­ev­er I Why bloody meat was not ­bring ­c louds over the e­ arth and the rain­bow ap­pears in the okay to eat ­clouds, 15 I will re­mem­ber my cov­enant be­t ween me and you The blood of the animal and all liv­ing crea­t ures of ev­ery kind. Nev­er ­again will the represented its life. Since life is a wa­ters be­come a ­f lood to de­stroy all life. 16  W hen­ev­er the gift from God, it must be honored. rain­bow ap­pears in the ­c louds, I will see it and re­mem­ber To honor that life, people were the ever­last­ing cov­enant be­t ween God and all liv­ing crea­ required to drain the blood from tures of ev­ery kind on the earth.” the meat they were eating. 17 S o God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the cov­enant I have es­tab­l ished be­t ween me and all life on the earth.” 9:5 – 6 T H E S O NS O F N O A H God’s judgment for 18  T he sons of Noah who came out of the ark were murder Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth. (Ham was the fa­ther of Ca­naan.) God created human beings in 19 T hese were the t­ hree sons of Noah, and from them came his own image, so human life is the peo­ple who were scat­tered over the ­whole earth. precious and valuable. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, pro­ceed­ed a to p ­ lant a vine­ yard. 21 W hen he ­d rank some of its wine, he be­came ­d runk and lay un­cov­ered in­side his tent. 22 Ham, the fa­ther of Ca­naan, saw his fa­ther na­ked and told his two broth­ers a 20 Or soil, was the first    14 genesis 9:23 9:12 – 16 o­ ut­side. 23 But Shem and Ja­pheth took a gar­ment and laid it ­across ­their shoul­ders; then they ­walked in back­ward and The sign of the rainbow cov­ered ­their fa­ther’s na­ked body. ­Their fac­es were ­t urned God knows that people tend to the oth­er way so that they w ­ ould not see t­ heir fa­ther na­ked. forget things, even important 24 W hen Noah ­awoke from his wine and ­found out what things like his faithfulness. God his youn­gest son had done to him, 25 he said, said the rainbow is a reminder to people that he will keep his “Cursed be Canaan! promise to never destroy the world The lowest of slaves again with a flood. will he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend Japheth’s a territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.” 28 A f­ter the ­f lood Noah ­lived 350 ­years. 29 Noah ­lived a to­tal of 950 ­years, and then he died. T H E TA B L E O F N AT I O NS 10 This is the ac­count of Shem, Ham and Ja­pheth, No­ ah’s sons, who them­selves had sons af­ter the flood. THE JAPHETHITES 2 The sons b of Ja­pheth: Go­mer, Ma­gog, Mad­a i, Ja­van, Tu­bal, Me­shek and Ti­ras. 3 The sons of Go­mer: Ash­ke­naz, Ri­phath and To­gar­mah. 4 The sons of Ja­van: Digital Stock Eli­shah, Tar­shish, the Kit­tites and the Rod­a­nites. c 5 ( From ­t hese the mar­i­t ime peo­ples ­spread out into 9:22 ­their ter­ri­to­r ies by ­their ­c lans with­in ­their na­tions, Ham mistreats Noah. each with its own lan­g uage.) Ham did not show respect for his THE HAMITES father, Noah. Instead of covering 6 The sons of Ham: his father’s nakedness as his Cush, ­Egypt, Put and Ca­naan. brothers did, Ham told others 7 The sons of Cush: about his father’s drunkenness and Seba, Hav­i ­lah, Sab­tah, Ra­a­mah and Sab­te­k a. nakedness. The sons of Ra­a­mah: She­ba and De­dan. 8 Cush was the fa­t her d of Nim­rod, who be­came a ­m ighty war­rior on the ­earth. 9 He was a ­mighty hunt­er be­fore the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nim­rod, a ­mighty hunt­er be­fore the Lord.” 10 T he ­f irst cen­ters of his king­dom were Bab­ylon, Uruk, Ak­k ad and Kal­neh, in e Shi­nar.  f 11 From that land he went to As­syr­ia, ­where he ­built Nin­e ­veh, a 27  Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.    b 2  Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.    c 4  Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites    d 8  Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.    e 10 Or Uruk and Akkad — ​all of them in    f 10 That is, Babylonia     genesis 10:19 15 ­Re­ho­both Ir,  a Ca­lah 12 and Re­sen, w ­ hich is be­t ween Nin­e­ veh and Ca­lah — ​­which is the ­g reat city. 10:1 – 32 Why the Bible includes 13 Egypt was the fa­ther of lists of names the Lu­d ites, An­a­m ites, Le­ha­bites, Naph­t u­h ites, A family tree was important in 14  Path ­r u­sites, Kas­lu ­h ites (from whom the Phi ­l is­ ancient times as a way to record tines came) and Caph­to­rites. people’s history and show how 15 Ca­naan was the fa­ther of families were connected to the Si­don his first­born,  b and of the Hit­tites, 16  Jeb­u­ community. People were identified sites, Am­o­r ites, Gir­g a­shites, 17  H i­v ites, Ar­k ites, by their relatives. Many family Si­nites, 18  A r ­vad­ites, Zem­a­rites and Ha­math­ites. trees in the Bible point forward and Lat­er the Ca­naan­ite ­c lans scat­tered 19 and the bor­ders of backward — forward to Jesus and Ca­naan ­reached from Si­don to­ward Ge­rar as far as Gaza, backward to the people from whom and then to­ward Sod­om, Go­mor­rah, Ad­mah and Ze­boy­ he descended. im, as far as La­sha. a 11 Or Nineveh with its city squares    b 15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost    Age of Early Ancestors The book of Genesis records the long lives of the early ancestors of faith; here are some of the better-known examples: Ancestor Bible Reference from Genesis Age at Death Adam 5:5 930 Seth 5:8 912 Methuselah 5:27 969 Noah 9:29 950 Shem 11:10–11 600 Eber 11:16–17 464 Peleg 11:18–19 239 Nahor 11:24–25 148 Terah 11:32 205 Sarah 23:1 127 Abraham 25:7 175 Isaac 35:28–29 180 Jacob 47:28 147 Joseph 50:26 110 16 genesis 10:20 10:25 20 T hese are the sons of Ham by ­t heir ­c lans and lan­g uag­ es, in ­their ter­ri­to­ries and na­tions. How countries formed The earth was divided into separate THE SEMITES nations, probably when God 21 Sons were also born to Shem, w ­ hose old­er broth­er was a confused the languages at the Ja­pheth; Shem was the an­ces­tor of all the sons of Eber. Tower of Babel (11:8 – 9). 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Ash­ur, Ar­phax­ad, Lud and Aram. 11:1 23 The sons of Aram: Everyone used to speak Uz, Hul, Ge­ther and Me­shek. b the same language. 24 Ar­phax­ad was the fa­ther of c She­lah, Before the Tower of Babel, there and She­lah the fa­ther of Eber. was one language. No one knows 25 Two sons were born to Eber: what that language was for sure. One was ­named Pe­leg, d be­cause in his time the Although people could understand ­earth was di­v id­ed; his broth­er was ­named Jok­tan. each other, the grandchildren and 26 Jok­tan was the fa­ther of great-grandchildren from Noah’s Al­mo­d ad, She­leph, Ha­z ar­ma­veth, Je­r ah, 27 Ha­ three sons may have had their own do­r am, Uzal, Dik ­l ah, 28  Obal, Abim­a­el, She­ba, unique words and pronunciations. 29 O phir, Hav­i ­lah and Jo­bab. All ­t hese were sons of (See Genesis 10:5,20,31.) Jok­tan. 30 T he re­g ion ­where they l­ived ­stretched from Me­sha to­ 11:4 ward Se­phar, in the east­ern hill coun­try. The Tower of Babel 31 T hese are the sons of Shem by ­t heir ­c lans and lan­g uag­ Ancient cities were built around a es, in ­their ter­ri­to­ries and na­tions. temple. The typical Mesopotamian 32 T hese are the ­c lans of No­a h’s sons, ac­cord­ing to ­t heir temple tower, called a ziggurat, had l­ines of de­scent, with­in ­their na­tions. From ­these the na­ a square base and sloping sides, tions ­spread out over the ­earth af­ter the flood. with steps that led to a shrine on the top. Ziggurats were meant to THE TOWER OF BABEL serve as staircases from earth to heaven. A god could “come down” to the shrine and receive worship 11 Now the w ­ hole ­world had one lan­g uage and a com­ mon ­speech. 2  As peo­ple ­moved east­ward,  e they f­ ound a ­plain in Shi­nar f and set­t led there. from the people who had climbed 3 T hey said to each oth­er, “Come, ­let’s make ­bricks and to the shrine. God probably saw this bake them thor­ough­ly.” They used b ­ rick in­stead of ­stone, tower as a symbol of human pride and tar for mor­tar. 4 T hen they said, “Come, let us b­ uild rather than of glory to God. our­selves a city, with a tow­er that reach­es to the heav­ens, so that we may make a name for our­selves; other­w ise we will be scat­tered over the face of the ­whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tow­ er the peo­ple were build­ing. 6 T he Lord said, “If as one peo­ple speak­ing the same lan­g uage they have be­g un to do this, then noth­ing they plan to do will be im­pos­si­ble for them. 7 Come, let us go down and con­f use ­their lan­g uage so they will not un­der­stand each oth­er.” 8 S o the Lord scat­tered them from ­t here over all the ­earth, and they s­ topped build­ing the city. 9 T hat is why it was ­called Ba­bel g  — ​be­cause ­t here the Lord con­fused the lan­g uage of the ­whole a 21 Or Shem, the older brother of    b 23  See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:17; Hebrew Mash.    c 24  Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of    d 25  Peleg means division.    e 2 Or from the east ; or in the east    f 2 That is, Babylonia    g 9  That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.