Babylon

¹The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. ²As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. ³They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. ⁴They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.” ⁵The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. ⁶The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. ⁷Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. From there, the LORD scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

⁸Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹He burned the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned every great house with fire. ¹⁰All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who were left in the city and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the multitude.

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion. ²On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps. ³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” ⁴How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

²⁵“This is the writing that was inscribed: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’ ²⁶“This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end. ²⁷TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. ²⁸PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” ²⁹Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.