Genesis 11:2-9
New International Version
2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b](A) and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks(B) and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,(C) and tar(D) for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,(E) so that we may make a name(F) for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered(G) over the face of the whole earth.”(H)
5 But the Lord came down(I) to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language(J) they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us(K) go down(L) and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”(M)
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,(N) and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c](O)—because there the Lord confused the language(P) of the whole world.(Q) From there the Lord scattered(R) them over the face of the whole earth.
Footnotes
- Genesis 11:2 Or from the east; or in the east
- Genesis 11:2 That is, Babylonia
- Genesis 11:9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
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