1、The Tower of BabelNow the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen
2、 for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” THE LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And t
3、he LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand on anothers speech.
4、” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.译文鉴赏之巴别塔那时，全世
5、界通用一种语言，一种文字。当人们从东方迁移的时候，在示拿一带看见了一片平原，便在那里住下了。他们商量说：“来，让我们烧制些砖。”他们就拿砖当石头，以石漆代灰泥。他们又说：“来，让我们为自己建造一座城和一尊塔，塔顶通天，好使我们名留后世，免得我们流散各地，一事无成。耶和华遂降临人间要察看世人建的城和塔。耶和华说：“看哪！他们都属同一个民族，都说同样的语言。既然今天他们能做成这件事，将来他们想做的事，便不可能不获成功。来，让我们下去，变乱他们的语言，让他们彼此无法沟通。于是耶和华将他们分散到各地，那座城便停建了。因此，该城被称作巴别，因为从那里耶和华将一种语言变成多种语言，从那里耶和华将众人分散到世界各地。
