And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

And they said one to another, “Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly.” And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

And they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

The builders of the Tower of Babel were descended from Noah’s son Ham. Their intent was to rebel against God.

They would go to the top of the tower and shoot arrows into the clouds seeking to kill the heavenly host. The angels would catch the arrows, put blood on the tips, and throw them back down to the shooters. Seeing the blood they would think that they had struck some of the heavenly host.

According to the Book of Jasher it took one year to transport a cart or wagon full of stone to the top of the tower.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had built.

And the Lord said, “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of- all the earth.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.