The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 The whole earth used the same language, the same words.
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And all the earth had one language and one tongue.
2 It came about that as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shin'ar and lived there.
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And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.
3 They said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them in the fire." So they had bricks for building-stone and clay for mortar.
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And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.
4 Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth."
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And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.
5 ADONAI came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
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And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.
6 ADONAI said, "Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they're starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them!
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And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.
7 Come, let's go down and confuse their language, so that they won't understand each other's speech."
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Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
8 So from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city.
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So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.
9 For this reason it is called Bavel [confusion] - because there ADONAI confused the language of the whole earth, and from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth.
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So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.
10 Here is the genealogy of Shem. Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpakhshad two years after the flood.
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These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters;
11 After Arpakhshad was born, Shem lived another 500 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
12 Arpakhshad lived thirty-five years and fathered Shelach.
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And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah:
13 After Shelach was born, Arpakhshad lived another 403 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:
14 Shelach lived thirty years and fathered 'Ever.
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And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:
15 After 'Ever was born, Shelach lived another 403 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:
16 'Ever lived thirty-four years and fathered Peleg.
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And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg:
17 After Peleg was born, 'Ever lived another 430 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:
18 Peleg lived thirty years and fathered Re'u.
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And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu:
19 After Re'u was born, Peleg lived another 209 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters:
20 Re'u lived thirty-two years and fathered S'rug.
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And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug:
21 After S'rug was born, Re'u lived another 207 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:
22 S'rug lived thirty years and fathered Nachor.
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And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor:
23 After Nachor was born, S'rug lived another 200 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
24 Nachor lived twenty-nine years and fathered Terach.
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And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:
25 After Terach was born, Nachor lived another 119 years and had sons and daughters.
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And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters:
26 Terach lived seventy years and fathered Avram, Nachor and Haran.
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And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 Here is the genealogy of Terach. Terach fathered Avram, Nachor and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
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These are the generations of Terah: Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.
28 Haran died before his father Terach in the land where he was born, in Ur of the Kasdim.
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And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees.
29 Then Avram and Nachor took wives for themselves. The name of Avram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor's wife was Milkah the daughter of Haran. He was the father of Milkah and of Yiskah.
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And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30 Sarai was barren - she had no child.
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And Sarai had no child.
31 Terach took his son Avram, his son Haran's son Lot, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Avram's wife; and they left Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Kena'an. But when they came to Haran, they stayed there.
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And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram and they went out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and were there for some time.
32 Terach lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
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And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five: and Terah came to his end in Haran.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.