Construction zone
1There was a time on earth when everyone spoke the same language. 2They moved east and settled in a plain called Babylonia. [1] 3There they came up with an idea. They said, “Let’s fire up the kiln and bake some super-hard bricks.” They didn’t have construction-quality stones or mortar. So when they needed to build something they used bricks. They held the bricks together with tar. 4They said, “Come on, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that climbs all the way to heaven. We’ll be famous. And we’ll have a place big enough for all of us to live, so we don’t scatter all over the place. Win-win.”5The LORD took a road trip; he came down to see the city and the tower under construction. 6“Look at that,” the LORD said. “They’re working together as one team, all speaking the same language. The city and tower is only the beginning. When they pull together like this, they’ll be able to do anything they decide to do. If they can dream it, they can do it. 7We can’t let that happen. Let’s go down there and expand their vocabulary. We’ll make them talk in different languages so they won’t understand each other.” 8That’s how the LORD managed to scatter people all over the world, while putting a halt to construction of the city and tower. 9That’s why the city was called Babel. [2] Babble is what it sounded like when people talked to each other after God accessorized their lingo, and they had to talk in different languages. They scattered all over the planet.
