Genesis 11:1-32 Easy-to-Read Version
The World Divided
1{After the flood,} the whole world spoke one language. All people used the same words.
2People moved from the East. They found a plain in the country of Shinar. The people stayed there to live.
3The people said, “We should make bricks and put them in fire so that they will become very hard.” So the people used bricks, not stones, to build their houses. And the people used tar, not mortar.
4Then the people said, “We should build a city for ourselves. And we should build a tower that will reach to the sky. We will be famous. {And this will keep us together.} We will not be scattered all over the earth.” 5The Lord came down to see the city and the very tall building. The Lord saw the people building these things.
6The Lord said, “These people all speak the same language. And I see that they are joined together to do this work. This is only the beginning of what they can do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want.
7So let’s go down and confuse their language. Then they will not understand each other.”
8So the Lord caused the people to spread all over the earth. So the people did not finish building the city.
9That is the place where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. So that place is called Babel. So the Lord caused the people to spread out from that place to all the other places on earth.