14 Bible Verses on Tower of Babel

Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth. This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters. When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. During his father Terah’s lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no children. And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites. From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations. The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah. Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites, the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites. And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans were scattered, and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations. And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber. The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber. Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan. And Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. Their territory extended from Mesha to Sephar, in the eastern hill country. These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations. All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.

Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.

That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.

Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.

For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.