The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and one ^[a]speech.

Egypt, Assyria, and Israel Blessed

¹⁸ In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will ^(A)speak the language of Canaan and ^(B)swear by the Lord of hosts; one will be called the City of ^[a]Destruction.

²⁰ “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

²³ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men ^(C)from every language of the nations shall ^(D)grasp the ^[a]sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard ^(E)that God is with you.” ’ ”

^11 (A)“Many nations shall be joined to the Lord ^(B)in that day, and they shall become ^(C)My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then ^(D)you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.

⁴ And ^(A)they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began ^(B)to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Crowd’s Response

⁵ And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, ^(C)devout men, from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound occurred, the ^(D)multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. ⁷ Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak ^(E)Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each in our own ^[a]language in which we were born? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and ^(F)Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and ^[b]Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” ¹² So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

¹³ Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”