Babel

Shorter

11 All the inhabitants of the earth had one language and vocabulary; 2 and as they travelled westward, they found a broad valley in the land of Shinar, and made their home there.

3 Then they said one to another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and thoroughly bake them.’ So they had bricks for stone and asphalt for mortar. 4 They said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will touch the heavens. We will make a landmark, so that we are not scattered over all the earth.’

5 But when the Lord came down to see the city and tower that people had built, 6 he said, ‘See, they are one people and all have one language. This is only the beginning of their activity, and now nothing that they propose to do will seem too difficult for them. 7 Come, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that they do not understand each other’s speech.’

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they ceased building the city. 9 That is why they named it Babel[fn], for there the Lord confused the language of all the inhabitants of earth and scattered them over the whole world.