NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible - Sampler | Page 17

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
nations, probably when God
confused the languages at the
Tower of Babel (11:8 – 9).
11:1
Everyone used to speak
the same language.
Before the Tower of Babel, there
was one language. No one knows
what that language was for sure.
Although people could understand
each other, the grandchildren and
great-grandchildren from Noah’s
three sons may have had their own
unique words and pronunciations.
(See Genesis 10:5,20,31.)
11:4
The Tower of Babel
Ancient cities were built around a
temple. The typical Mesopotamian
temple tower, called a ziggurat, had
a square base and sloping sides,
with steps that led to a shrine on
the top. Ziggurats were meant to
serve as staircases from earth to
heaven. A god could “come down”
to the shrine and receive worship
from the people who had climbed
to the shrine. God probably saw this
tower as a symbol of human pride
rather than of glory to God.
THE SEMITES
21  Sons were also born to Shem, w
­ hose old­er broth­er was  a
Ja­pheth; Shem was the an­ces­tor of all the sons of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem:
Elam, Ash­ur, Ar­phax­ad, Lud and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Ge­ther and Me­shek.  b
24 Ar­phax­ad was the fa­ther of  c She­lah,
and She­lah the fa­ther of Eber.
25 Two sons were born to Eber:
One was ­named Pe­leg,  d be­cause in his time the
earth was di­v id­ed; his broth­er was ­named Jok­tan.
26 Jok­tan was the fa­ther of
Al­mo­d ad, She­leph, Ha­z ar­ma­veth, Je­r ah, 27  Ha­
do­r am, Uzal, Dik ­l ah, 28   Obal, Abim­a­el, She­ba,
29  O phir, Hav­i ­lah and Jo­bab. All ­t hese were sons of
Jok­tan.
30  T he re­g ion w
­ here they l ­ ived s ­ tretched from Me­sha to­
ward Se­phar, in the east­ern hill coun­try.
31  T hese are the sons of Shem by t ­ heir ­c lans and lan­g uag­
es, in ­their ter­ri­to­ries and na­tions.
32  T hese are the ­c lans of No­a h’s sons, ac­cord­ing to ­t heir
l ­ ines of de­scent, with­in ­t heir na­t ions. From ­t hese the na­
tions ­spread out over the ­earth af­ter the flood.
THE TOWER OF BABEL
11
Now the ­whole ­world had one lan­g uage and a com­
mon ­speech. 2   As peo­ple ­moved east­ward,  e they ­found
a ­plain in Shi­nar  f and set­t led there.
3  T hey said to each oth­er, “Come, ­let’s make b
­ ricks and
bake them thor­ough­ly.” They used b
­ rick in­stead of s ­ tone,
and tar for mor­tar. 4  T hen they said, “Come, let us b ­ uild
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 w
­ hole 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 e ­ arth, and they s ­ topped build­ing the city.
9  T hat is why it was c
­ alled Ba­bel  g   — ​be­cause ­there
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.