The tower of Babel. The confusion of tongues. The genealogy of Sem down to Abram.
11:1. And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.
11:2. And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.
11:3. And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar:
11:4. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.
11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.
11:6. And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.
11:7. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
11:8. And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.
11:9. And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.