Genesis 11   English Standard Version (ESV) The Tower of Babel 11  Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.   2  And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3  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.   4  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 dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”   5  And the  Lord  came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.   6  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.   7  Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.”   8