"Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.' Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9)
“现在整个地球有一个语言，几句话。与男子一样从东迁移，他们发现，在示拿地平原，就住在那里。他们彼此说，'来吧，让我们砖，烧他们彻底。他们就拿砖当石头，沥青和迫击炮。然后他们说，'来吧，让我们自己建造一座城市，一个在天上顶塔，让我们为自己的名，免得我们分散在国外在整个地球表面。而耶和华降临，要看看这个城市和塔，其中男子的儿子已建成。与耶和华说，看哪，他们是一个民族，他们都一种语言;而这仅仅是开始他们会做，以及什么，他们现在打算做对他们是不可能的。来吧，让我们下去，并有自己的语言混淆，他们可能不明白对方的讲话。于是耶和华他们从那里分散在国外的所有地面，与他们离开了这个城市的建设。因此，它的名字叫做巴别，因为耶和华在那里混淆了地球上所有的语言，从那里分散在耶和华的所有地球表面在国外。“ （创11:1-9）
