⁹ He was a mighty ^(A)hunter ^(B)before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” ^10 (C)And the beginning of his kingdom was ^(D)Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and ^[a]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower ^(A)whose top is in the heavens; let us make a ^(B)name for ourselves, lest we ^(C)be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

^5 (D)But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Indeed ^(E)the people are one and they all have ^(F)one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they ^(G)propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷ Come, ^(H)let Us go down and there ^(I)confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So ^(J)the Lord scattered them abroad from there ^(K)over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name is called ^[b]Babel, ^(L)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.