11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, Come, lets make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.