1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4 And they said, Come, 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 Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.
7 Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8 So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city.
9 Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood.