And the king and all his servants, and Terah with all his household were then the first of
those that served gods of wood and stone.
20
And Terah had twelve gods of large size, made of wood and stone, after the twelve months
of the year, and he served each one monthly, and every month Terah would bring his meat
offering and drink offering to his gods; thus did Terah all the days.
And all that generation were wicked in the sight of the Lord, and they thus made every man
his god, but they forsook the Lord who had created them.
And there was not a man found in those days in the whole earth, who knew the Lord (for
they served each man his own God) except Noah and his household, and all those who were
under his counsel knew the Lord in those days.
And Abram the son of Terah was waxing great in those days in the house of Noah, and no
man knew it, and the Lord was with him.
And the Lord gave Abram an understanding heart, and he knew all the works of that
generation were vain, and that all their gods were vain and were of no avail.
And Abram saw the sun shining upon the earth, and Abram said unto himself Surely now
this sun that shines upon the earth is God, and him will I serve.
And Abram served the sun in that day and he prayed to him, and when evening came the
sun set as usual, and Abram said within himself, Surely this cannot be God?
And Abram still continued to speak within himself, Who is he who made the heavens and
the earth? who created upon earth? where is he?
And night darkened over him, and he lifted up his eyes toward the west, north, south, and
east, and he saw that the sun had vanished from the earth, and the day became dark.
And Abram saw the stars and moon before him, and he said, Surely this is the God who
created the whole earth as well as man, and behold these his servants are gods around him:
and Abram served the moon and prayed to it all that night.
And in the morning when it was light and the sun shone upon the earth as usual, Abram
saw all the things that the Lord God had made upon earth.
And Abram said unto himself Surely these are not gods that made the earth and all
mankind, but these are the servants of God, and Abram remained in the house of Noah and
there knew the Lord and his ways' and he served the Lord all the days of his life, and all that
generation forgot the Lord, and served other gods of wood and stone, and rebelled all their
days.
And king Nimrod reigned securely, and all the earth was under his control, and all the
earth was of one tongue and words of union.
And all the princes of Nimrod and his great men took counsel together; Phut, Mitzraim,
Cush and Canaan with their families, and they said to each other, Come let us build
ourselves a city and in it a strong tower, and its top reaching heaven, and we will make
ourselves famed, so that we may reign upon the whole world, in order that the evil of our
enemies may cease from us, that we may reign mightily over them, and that we may not
become scattered over the earth on account of their wars.
And they all went before the king, and they told the king these words, and the king agreed
with them in this affair, and he did so.
And all the families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they
went to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they sought in
the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of the land of Shinar, about
two days' walk, and they journeyed there and they dwelt there.
And they began to make bricks and burn fires to build the city and the tower that they had
imagined to complete.
And the building of the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to
build it, and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in their
hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven.
And all these people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the first said
We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We will ascend to heaven
and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to
heaven and smite him with bows and spears; and God knew all their works and all their evil
thoughts, and he saw the city and the tower which they were building.
And when they were building they built themselves a great city and a very high and strong
tower; and on account of its height the mortar and bricks did not reach the builders in their
ascent to it, until those who went up had completed a full year, and after that, they reached to
the builders and gave them the mortar and the bricks; thus was it done daily.
And behold these ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall
from their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it, and if a man fell and died, none
of them would look at him.
And the Lord knew their thoughts, and it came to pass when they were building they cast
the arrows toward the heavens, and all the arrows fell upon them filled with blood, and when
they saw them they said to each other, Surely we have slain all those that are in heaven.
For this was from the Lord in order to cause them to err, and in order; to destroy them from
off the face of the ground.
And they built the tower and the city, and they did this thing daily until many days and
years were elapsed.
And God said to the seventy angels who stood foremost before him, to those who were
near to him, saying, Come let us descend and confuse their tongues, that one man shall not
understand the language of his neighbor, and they did so unto them.
And from that day following, they forgot each man his neighbor's tongue, and they could
not understand to speak in one tongue, and when the builder took from the hands of his
neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would cast it away and throw it
upon his neighbor, that he would die.
And they did so many days, and they killed many of them in this manner.
And the Lord smote the three divisions that were there, and he punished them according
to their works and designs; those who said, We will ascend to heaven and serve our gods, became like apes and elephants; and those who said, We will smite the
heaven with arrows, the Lord killed them, one man through the hand of his neighbor; and the
third division of those who said, We will ascend to heaven and fight against him, the Lord
scattered them throughout the earth.
And those who were left amongst them, when they knew and understood the evil which
was coming upon them, they forsook the building, and they also became scattered upon the
face of the whole earth.
And they ceased building the city and the tower; therefore he called that place Babel, for
there the Lord confounded the Language of the whole earth; behold it was at the east of the
land of Shinar.
And as to the tower which the sons of men built, the earth opened its mouth and
swallowed up one third part thereof, and a fire also descended from heaven and burned
another third, and the other third is left to this day, and it is of that part which was aloft, and its
circumference is three days' walk.
And many of the sons of men died in that tower, a people without number.