The Tower of Babel

11:1-9

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And it happened as they migrated from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 Then they said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire.” And they had bricks for stones, and they had tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of mankind had built. 6 And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language. So this is what they have begun to do, and now everything that they plan to do will not be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand each other’s language.” 8 Then Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 For that reason they called its name Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth, and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.