The story of the Tower of Babel is found in the book of Genesis chapter 11 in the Bible. This narrative explains a key event after the flood of Noah involving the language of all humanity and the scattering of people across the earth.

All People Shared One Language:

The Bible begins the account by describing the condition of humanity at that time:

“At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.” — Genesis 11:1 (NLT)

This means everyone could communicate together because they had one language.

They Migrated and Settled in Babylonia:

The people moved and settled in a specific place:

“As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.” — Genesis 11:2 (NLT)

They Made Bricks to Build With:

The Bible explains how they planned to build:

“They began saying to each other, ‘Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.’
(In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)”
— Genesis 11:3 (NLT)

Their Plan: A Great City with a Tower:

The people spoke about building a city and a tall tower:

“Then they said, ‘Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky.
This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.’”
— Genesis 11:4 (NLT)

They wanted fame and to avoid being scattered across the earth.

God Came Down to See Their Work:

The Bible tells what God did next:

“But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.”
— Genesis 11:5 (NLT)

God observed their unity and their project.

God’s Statement About Their Unity:

God spoke about what He saw:

“‘Look!’ he said. ‘The people are united, and they all speak the same language.
After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!’”
— Genesis 11:6 (NLT)

Their unity and shared language meant they could accomplish whatever they planned.

God’s Plan to Confuse Their Language:

God decided to change their language so they could not understand each other:

“‘Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages.
Then they won’t be able to understand each other.’”
— Genesis 11:7 (NLT)

God Scattered Them Across the Earth:

As a result of confusing their language:

“In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.”
— Genesis 11:8 (NLT)

Because they could no longer understand one another, the work stopped.

The City Was Called Babel:

The Bible explains why the place was named Babel:

“That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages.
In this way he scattered them all over the world.”
— Genesis 11:9 (NLT)

The name Babel is tied to the confusion of languages.