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The Tower of Babel

11Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as they migrated from the east,^* they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ ⁵The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. ⁶And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ ⁸So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹Therefore it was called Babel, 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.

10  The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught; ♦︎
   he frustrates the designs of the peoples.
11  But the counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever ♦︎
   and the designs of his heart from generation to generation.
12  Happy the nation whose God is the Lord ♦︎
   and the people he has chosen for his own.
13  The Lord looks down from heaven ♦︎
   and beholds all the children of earth.
14  From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze ♦︎
   on all who dwell on the earth.
15  He fashions all the hearts of them ♦︎
   and understands all their works.

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,^* will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words^* in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’ 9¹And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with^* power.’