Many years ago, after the great flood, the world was a new and beautiful place. God had destroyed all of the evil and wickedness in the world. In the east was a beautiful valley called Shinar. In this valley were many lush plants and wonderful green gardens.

After the great flood, Noah's three sons, who were named Shem, Ham, and Japheth, had many children born to them. These children grew up and soon had families of their own. Then, there were more children born on earth. After many years, there were many people once again living on the earth.

Some of the descendants of Noah traveled east, and settled in another beautiful valley. However, after many generations, they began to forget the Lord. One day, all the people in the valley said to one another, "Let's build a great city with a tall tower that will reach to the heavens. This will be a monument to our own greatness. Because of this work, we will stay together and keep from scattering over the earth."

How busy the people were in the valley! Everyone worked together to build their great city and tower. Some of the workers made bricks from straw and clay, while others made mortar to hold the bricks together. How excited were the people as the new city took shape, and the tall tower began to rise towards the heavens! "How wonderful our new city will be," they imagined.

The Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. God was not pleased at what He saw. He knew that man would become more sinful if the great tower were completed. Already, they thought more and more about their own works, and less and less about God. They forgot that God gave them the gifts and the strength to work. Eventually, these people might forget God entirely, and even worship the things they made. Because of this God decided to stop the building of the city and its tower.

Until this time, all the people on earth spoke the same language. In order to stop the building of the city and tower, God caused all of the people to speak many different languages. As they tried to work together, they no longer could understand what the other person was saying. The language that one family spoke, was no longer the same language spoken and understood by their neighbors.

This caused great confusion. The building of the tower could not continue, because the workers could not understand one another. The people found others who spoke their same language. Then, they moved off to live by themselves. No longer were there workers to continue the building project. Finally, the people who were trying to build the city and the great tower gave up. The unfinished tower was called the tower of Babel, because it was here that the Lord confused the language of man. He did this because once again, man sinned and thought he could become greater than God.