The Tower of Babylon

11 At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. n 2 As people o migrated from the east, p they found a valley in the land of * Shinar and settled there. q 3 They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar. r 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. s Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 Then the Lord came down t to look over the city and the tower that the * men were building. 6 The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down there and confuse u their language v so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” w 8 So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, x and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babylon, y z for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.