Genesis 11:1–3

⁶Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

⁹For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.

¹⁸¶ In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.

²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

¹⁰And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

¹AND it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

¹¹And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.

¹¹Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

¹⁰And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

³And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

¹GO to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

³¹And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.

¹³But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

⁶They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.

⁷So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

¹⁰The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

¹I SAID in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

⁷Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

⁹Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

¹⁰¶ And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

¹¹Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.

¹²So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.

¹³And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

¹⁴And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

¹⁵¶ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?

¹⁶There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.

¹⁷But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.

¹⁸Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.

⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

⁷Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

⁵And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

³A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;

¹³Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

¹⁴Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

¹¹If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

⁵They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?