In all this, it is important to know, that there was a time, the whole world spoke a single language. As people journeyed eastward, they discovered a vast, open plain in the land of Shinar and decided to settle there. One day, someone said, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them hard." They began using bricks in place of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
Then came the bold idea.
"Let's build ourselves a city," they said, "with a tower that reaches all the way to the heavens. Let's make a name for ourselves, so we won't be scattered across the earth."
But God came down to see the city and the tower these humans were building. And the Lord said, "If they've begun this as one people with one language, then nothing they plan will be out of reach. Let's go down and confuse their language, so they won't understand one another."
And just like that, chaos took hold. Words turned strange. Sentences became nonsense. Confusion filled the air. The people could no longer work together. God scattered them across the face of the whole earth, and they abandoned the tower they had dreamed of. That place became known as Babel, because it was there that the Lord confused the language of the whole world.
From there, the nations spread far and wide.