MANY years passed. Noah’s sons had lots of children. And their children grew up and had more children. Soon there were many people on the earth.

One of these persons was a great-grandson of Noah named Nimʹrod. He was a bad man who hunted and killed both animals and men. Nimʹrod also made himself a king to rule over other people. God did not like Nimʹrod.

All the people at that time spoke one language. Nimʹrod wanted to keep them all together so that he could rule them. So do you know what he did? He told the people to build a city and a big tower in it. See them in the picture making bricks.

Jehovah God was not pleased with this building. God wanted the people to move out and live all over the earth. But the people said: ‘Come on! Let’s build a city and a tower so high that its top will reach into the heavens. Then we will be famous!’ The people wanted honor for themselves, not for God.

So God made the people stop building the tower. Do you know how he did it? By suddenly causing people to speak different languages, instead of just one. No longer did the builders understand one another. This is why their city came to be called Baʹbel, or Babylon, meaning “Confusion.”

The people now began to move away from Baʹbel. Groups of persons who spoke the same language went to live together in other parts of the earth.