Genesis 11 — NEB
11Verse 1After that for a long time people were talking just that one language.Verse 2They were going eastwards a bit at a time. They came to a big plain in the east. The name of that country was Shinar.Verse 3They ignored God's word. They said to one another, “Let's not spread out/scatter in all directions. Let's stay united. Let's stay right here, without roaming. Let's make a big camp, let's make a big hill-like (thing) also, extremely big upwards, right up to the sky. Everyone else will talk about us. They will say, 'Those people in Shinar are clever, they are truly smart'.” They got mud, they made bricks, they baked them in the fire to make them hard, they made very many. Joining them they glued them with bitumen. They built, they built. (i.e., they kept building for a long time.)Verse 5God knew about them. He said, “I told them to spread out. They did not listen to me. They stayed united to do evil. They are staying in one group, they talk one language. They will do more and more evil.Verse 7Lest they do that I will confuse their language. They will talk different languages. Then they will not understand each other.”Verse 8God did that. He confused their talk. He made them spread out in every direction. They did not again make their big camp, and the really big hill-like (thing). They left it still unfinished. They left it forever.Verse 9The name of that camp was Babel. That word Babel says, 'They were forgetting the same language for each other.' They were puzzling about each other's talk. [11:10-26 omitted. 11:27-32 are in next file (tho' title of that indicates only “12-24”).]