said: “Let Us confound their tongue[1] that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Till then there had been but one language spoken amongst men. So the Lord scattered them from that place into all the lands, and they ceased to build the city. Therefore, the city was called Babel[2], which signifies confusion, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded.
The children of Sem remained in Asia, and from them descended the Israelites, the chosen people of God. Most of the descendants of Cham settled in Africa, while those of Japhet took up their abode in Europe. Thus were different nations founded. The more men multiplied on the earth, the more wicked they
- ↑ Confound their tongue. God introduced various languages among them. Hitherto they had all spoken one language, because they were all the children, first, of Adam, then, of Noe. In the course of time, with the extension of the human race and the development of nationalities, this one original language would naturally have split itself into divers dialects, just as the mental and physical development of the race would have differed according to the different localities in which they were placed. But in order to punish their presumption and compel them to disperse, God brought the change about in a sudden and wonderful manner, while they were still all together, and at work building their tower. They could no longer understand each other, and had to give up their undertaking and separate into different bodies.
- ↑ Babel. Or Babylon. Among the ruins of this once great city the stupendous foundations of a tower are still to be seen, which are considered to be the remains of the Tower of Confusion (Fig. 4).
