People tried to build a high building in Babylon

1Right from the time Noah and his family came out of the really big boat called the Ark, everyone talked the same language.

2When people started to move further east, they came to plain country called Babylonia, and they stayed there.

3They said to each other, “Hey, let's build a big town here on this plain country. We can use the ground to make bricks. Then we will put them into a fire so that they get really hard and we will use tar to put them together. And we will make a really high building that goes right up to the sky. If we do that everyone will say that we are a great people. And we can stay right here in this country and we will not have to spread out all over the earth.”

God made people talk in different languages

5The Lord came down from heaven to look at the big town and the tall building that the people were making.

6He said, “These people are like one big tribe and they all talk the same language. This is just the start of what they will do. If they keep on going this way, nothing will stop them from doing anything they want to do.

7Come on, we will go down and we will make them talk in different languages so that they cannot understand each other.”

8So God made all the people talk in different languages. They could not understand each other and so they stopped building their big town and they all moved away to different places, all over the world.

9The town was called Babel or Babylon and those names sound like a word that means mixed up. You see, God mixed up the languages there and forced everyone to leave Babylon and go to live in different places all over the world.

The story of Shem's family

10This is the story of Shem's family. Shem was 100 years old when he had a son named Ar-fax-ad. This was 2 years after the big flood.

11Shem lived for 500 years after he had Ar-fax-ad, and he had more sons and daughters.

12Ar-fax-ad was 35 years old when he had a son named Shelah.

13Ar-fax-ad lived for 403 years after he had Shelah, and he had more sons and daughters.

14Shelah was 30 years old when he had a son named Eber.

15Shelah lived for 403 years after he had Eber, and he had more sons and daughters.

16Eber was 34 years old when he had a son named Peleg.

17Eber lived for 430 years after he had Peleg, and he had more sons and daughters.

18Peleg was 30 years old when he had a son named Reu.

19Peleg lived for 209 years after he had Reu, and he had more sons and daughters.

20Reu was 32 years old when he had a son named Serug.

21Reu lived for 207 years after he had Serug, and he had more sons and daughters.

22Serug was 30 years old when he had a son named Nahor.

23Serug lived for 200 years after he had Nahor and he had more sons and daughters.

24Nahor was 29 years old when he had a son named Terah.

25Nahor lived for 119 years after he had Terah and he had more sons and daughters.

26Terah had 3 sons after he was 70 years old. Their names were Abram, Nahor and Haran.

Terah's family

27This is the story of Terah's family. Terah had 3 sons named Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran, Terah's son, was born in a place called Ur, in a country called Kaldea. And so the people that lived in that country were called Kaldeans. Haran had a son named Lot and 2 daughters named Milcah and Iscah. Terah was still alive when Haran died. He died in the same country that he was born in. Nahor married Milcah and Abram married Sarai.

30But Sarai could not have a baby.

31Terah left Ur, in the Kaldea country with his son Abram, Sarai, and his grandson Lot. They wanted to go to the country called Canaan, but stopped at a town called Harran and stayed there.

32Terah died in Harran when he was 205 years old.