Genesis 11:1–9

The Tower of Babel

¹¹Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as they migrated from the east,^g they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{* 3}And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”^{* 5}The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.^{* 6}And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.^{* 7}Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”^{* 8}So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.^{* 9}Therefore it was called Babel,^h because 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.^*