Genesis 10:32-11:9 (Vespers, 1st Reading)
32 |
These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. |
1 |
Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. |
2 |
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. |
3 |
Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. |
4 |
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” |
5 |
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. |
6 |
And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. |
7 |
“Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” |
8 |
So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. |
9 |
Therefore its name is 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. |