New Living Translation NLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.
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At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language.
2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
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It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.
3 They 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.)
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They said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and fire them well." They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
4 Then 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.”
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Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let's make ourselves famous so we won't be scattered here and there across the Earth."
5 But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.
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God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
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!
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God took one look and said, "One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they'll come up with next - they'll stop at nothing!
7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
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Come, we'll go down and garble their speech so they won't understand each other."
8 In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
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Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city.
9 That 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.
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That's how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into "babble." From there God scattered them all over the world.
10 This 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.
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This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood.
11 After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After he had Arphaxad, he lived 600 more years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah.
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When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah.
13 After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber.
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When Shelah was thirty years old, he had Eber.
15 After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After Shelah had Eber, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg.
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When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had Peleg.
17 After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After Eber had Peleg, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu.
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When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu.
19 After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug.
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When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had Serug.
21 After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After Reu had Serug, he lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor.
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When Serug was thirty years old, he had Nahor.
23 After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After Serug had Nahor, he lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah.
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When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah.
25 After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
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After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
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When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The Family Tree of Terah
27 This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.
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This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
28 But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living.
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Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.
29 Meanwhile, 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.)
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Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram's wife was Sarai; Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.
30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.
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Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 One 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.
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Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram's wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.
32 Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
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Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.