¹ And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

² And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

³ And they said one to another, come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

⁴ And they said, come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we should be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

⁵ And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men were building.

⁶ And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

⁷ Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

⁸ So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

⁹ Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the LORD there confounded the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

¹¹ And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹² And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah.

¹³ And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁴ And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:

¹⁵ And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁶ And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:

¹⁷ And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁸ And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

¹⁹ And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁰ And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug.

²¹ And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

²² And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

²³ And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁴ And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah.

²⁵ And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁶ And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran: and Haran begat Lot.

²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

²⁹ And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and dwelt there.

³² And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

¹ Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,

² (after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the eunuchs, [and] the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem),

³ by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,

⁴ Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

⁶ Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and don't be diminished.

⁷ Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.

⁸ For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Don't let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says Yahweh.

¹⁰ For thus says Yahweh, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.

¹² You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

¹³ You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴ I will be found by you, says Yahweh, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Yahweh; and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.

¹⁵ Because you have said, Yahweh has raised us up prophets in Babylon;

¹⁶ thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven't gone forth with you into captivity;

¹⁷ thus says Yahweh of Armies; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.

¹⁸ I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

¹⁹ because they have not listened to my words, says Yahweh, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says Yahweh.

²⁰ Hear therefore the word of Yahweh, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹ Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes;