1
And the whole earth was of onelanguage,[a] and of onespeech.
2
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3
And they said[b]one to another, Go to, let us makebrick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slimehad they for morter.
4
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of menbuilded.
6
And the LORDsaid, Behold, the people is one, and they have all onelanguage; and this they begin to do: and now nothingwill be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language,that they may not understandoneanother'sspeech.
8
So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9
Therefore is the name of itcalledBabel;[c] because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
10
These are the generations of Shem:Shem was an hundredyearsold, and begatArphaxad two yearsafter the flood:
11
And Shemlivedafter he begatArphaxadfivehundredyears, and begatsons and daughters.