Genesis 11:1–9

The Tower of Babel

11Now the whole earth had one language and one ¹speech. ²And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land ^aof Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and ²bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower ^bwhose top is in the heavens; let us make a ^cname for ourselves, lest we ^dbe scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

^5eBut the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶And the Lord said, “Indeed ^fthe people are one and they all have ^gone language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they ^hpropose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷Come, ⁱlet Us go down and there ^jconfuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So ^kthe Lord scattered them abroad from there ^lover the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹Therefore its name is called ³Babel, ^mbecause there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.