Genesis 11:1-9
God's purpose was that humankind should form many nations and fill all the various lands. In contempt of God’s will, humankind united to build a city and a tower to prevent being scattered. Idolatry had begun, and Babel became one of its chief seats.
The LORD came down to see the city. Observe the wisdom and mercy of God, in the methods taken for defeating the undertaking of humankind. The mercy of God is seen in not making the penalty equal to the offence. Humankind hoped that the tower would serve as an everlasting memorial of their origin; God not only frustrated their vain expectation, but confounded their language and “scattered them all over the earth”.
Today, it's still important that we “scatter” ourselves, but for a different reason. There are people out there who still have not heard about the love and mercy of God. At least once in your life, break away from the familiar; go among those who speak a different language and find a way to share the love of God with someone who would never hear it otherwise.
Genesis 11:1-9 Good news Translation
The Tower of Babylon
1At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words. 2As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there. 3They said to one another, Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them hard. So they had bricks to build with and tar to hold them together. 4They said, Now let's build a city with a tower that reaches the sky, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth. 5Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which they had built, 6and he said, Now then, these are all one people and they speak one language; this is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want! 7Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other. 8So the LORD scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9The city was called Babylon, because there the LORD mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.











