A reading from the book of Genesis.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words, and as people migrated from the east,

they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there, and they said to one another,

Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and bitelmen for mortar. Then they said,

Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for

ourselves lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city

and the tower which the children of man had built, and the Lord said,

Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language. And this is only the beginning

of what they will do, and nothing that they proposed to do will now be impossible for them.

Come, let us go down and there and confuse their language so that they may not understand

one another speech. So the Lord

dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth,

and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. These are the generations of

Shem. When Shim was 100 years old,

he fathered Arpatchett, two years after the flood, and Shem lived after he fathered

five hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. When Arpatchett had lived 35 years,

he fathered Sheila, and Rappichet lived after he fathered Sheila, 403 years, and had other sons

and daughters. When Sheila had lived 30 years, he fathered Iber, and Sheila lived after he fathered

Iber, 403 years, and had other sons and daughters. When Iber had lived 34 years, he fathered

Pileg, and Iber lived after he fathered Pelag

430 years, and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Ryu,

...