On the Tower of Babel

On the Tower of Babel and on the Division of Languages A discourse on the division of languages, by him, as it were. A memra, the fifty-second, on the Tower of Babel and on the Division of Languages. The Creator gave a sign to the sons of men, that they might not be terrified by the flood of destruction. He established a covenant of love with them, the sons of flesh, that he would no longer be angry and castigate their deeds with waters. With manifest signs he showed them the greatness of his love, how much he loved, he loved the sons of his house, and he pardoned the world. He stretched forth a bow of severity before their eyes, that they might look at it and be terrified of the world of destruction that was theirs. With the bow he revealed to them his severity and his gentleness, that he is the one who chastises and the one who pardons, steadfastly. He showed them the bow bent, that there is no excess in it, teaching them not to cast upon them arrows of waters. Without a hand and without a string he showed them the bow, that they might know that he is not eager to shoot at the sons of men. Not for the shooting of its string in the air was its vision, but that it might cast a limit and love into the thought of men. A limit and love he fixed in their eyes like a spectacle, that they might look at it and be terrified of iniquity and choose love. The sight of blood and the warning of fire were depicted in it, so that they might know how much he was zealous for life against iniquities. A sign and arrows and the power of his essence he concealed in its vision, so that, according to the bow, he might also take up and the arrows of his wrath. As if with a finger he pointed out to them with severe signs, that this is what took hold of the high places on the day of the flood.

With this, the sign of my desire descended in the form of a rope, and I began and strove against the oppressive wickedness of the tower. This one, by the hand of my desire, I built mightily, and I cast mighty waves of water upon the ranks of men. With this, I reaped the field of the wicked, filled with gall, and the waves were for me like stones, and they extinguished my desire. Woe, woe that I reaped with men and also with beasts, and I made a bridge of the earth that is easily destroyed. Woe, woe that I also left the rudder with the pilot of the ark, and I brought up with the ark the cunning races for the labor of men. Woe, woe that I preserved in dead wood the life of all, and they were not submerged among the breakers and mighty waves. My desire stood like salt in the midst of the abyss, and like a pilot it guided the great ship. The ship, my desire covered it like a veil, and brought it out and placed it in the midst of the land without a covering. Behold, I have brought out for you the great ship as it was stored; see that you do not despise the commands like the former ones. Behold, I have shown you the hardness of the ropes that the wicked swallowed; cease from wickedness lest you be destroyed like the wicked. Behold, I have taught you the seeds of bitterness and the name of grace; see, be guided wisely with both. Behold, I have established a covenant of the ship between me and you; do not break it through the slackness of wickedness that turns to wrath. Behold, see the bow that I have stretched against the face of the height, and there is no rope in it, nor a hand to guide it.

Look, and see that for the day of the rope, the need for the bow was prepared. And I, behold, I made the sign of the arrow descend between men. I am a runner for the arrow, and not for the battle with men. And because of this, I did not cast the rope upon the bow of my life. Behold, I have shown you the desire of my will, that I love man. Do not hinder me from acting according to my will to restrain wrath. Heaven and earth are witnesses between me and you, that I did not desire to kill a man without folly. These words I proclaimed secretly in secret to men, and I wrote for you in the testaments the sign of the bow. By it, the spirit of Noah and his sons was divided as in a book, and after a time, his descendants went astray after their error. At the time of the flood, the arrow stood firm against the earths, and after a little while, it came upon the dry land and held counsel with the earth. The remainder of what was left from the waters turned against his destruction, and he began to pursue the path of error like the former ones. They abandoned the inheritance of the command of the arrow which they had received from Noah, and they lost the sign which the Creator had placed between him and them. They went out from the place and the neighborhood of the grave, and they began to be scattered for the division of the regions. They departed from Qardu, where they had gone out to seek the arrow, and they prepared a way to rebel against Babel, the name of confusion. They departed from the arrow of the name of the Creator, whose destruction is rich, and they went out to seek the inheritance of the land which is poor in its depth. By the desire of the earth, the earths went out from beside the arrow, until one day they were in the regions of nature and of the air.

All of them were equal when they were running to the face of Babel, and there was one people, one language, and one thought. One desire of the son of Noah until Babel, and within Babel they kindled the desire for labor and iniquity. A foolish desire the wanton ones kindled wantonly, in the likeness of Adam who desired and was deceived by the serpent and the ladder. The foolish serpent led astray the sons of Adam, and in that error they also erred like their father. That thought which Adam had, that he might become God, that same thought was for his sons, to seize the divine ladder. In the path of Adam his children also ran wantonly, and the rebellion of iniquity they sought to set up against the Creator. Against the Maker the dust-born ones rebelled in the days of the living, and the prepared ones to contend with their lives. The armor of iniquity the wicked ones put on wickedly, and they began to shoot the arrows of the serpent against the truth. The foolish serpent the fools put on like armor, and like a crown they placed pride upon the head of their mind. Height and depth they thought they would subdue under their hands, and ascend and become in the high rank of divinity. Like laymen the laymen saw the hand of the seer, and they did not look well to the end of their deeds. Without pause they pressed on from the place where they were shooting, and without order they sought to dwell in the dwelling of iniquity. Whence then was the desire that burned in their thoughts, and when did they consider that they would raise up a labor without measures? For what then did they lift their minds to the face of height, and they pressed on in the path of difficulty from the dead ones?

The evil desire stirred up their hearts to the heights, and they sought to raise the wings to the summit. The wall of Babel was kindled like a fire, and they began to murmur their thoughts without order. As in a fire, their senses were stamped from nothingness, and like diligent ones they stood and hastened to the labor of the earth. They abandoned the divine labor that sustains life, and cast upon themselves a toil of no benefit for body and soul. They despised the oaths of God, the All-Keeper that cannot be dissolved, and they falsified the sign of the full hour that would show them. They saw that he who deceives and does not keep his word, as one who confesses, and turns the waters of life into a desert and destroys the land. Not true is his thought, the foolish ones, to the truth from all, and upon it they began to seek rebellion against the Creator. In this confusion, the hard-hearted ones submitted to the regions, and cast upon themselves a labor that would not ascend to completion. Behold, this thought the foolish ones gave birth to without profit, that they might build a house in which to be saved from the flood. In this intention they were armed as for war, to array a battle line with the servant before the heights. Three things the cunning ones of the air, full of delights, considered, and for their sake they prepared a war in which blood would be victorious. One: that they might be saved from the flood, lest it occur; another: that they might seize a dwelling in the height with the creatures; the third: that when they fought and conquered and ruled, they would establish in the earth a name of glory like victors. Over victory they were contending in the midst of sin, and they did not know that the guilty one is condemned like his fathers.

They raged and plotted to conquer with the armor of audacity, and they brought out into the open the hidden secret of their thoughts. Come, let us cast the foundations of the wall and kindle the fire, and let us build a tower whose top reaches the height above. Come, let us strive with labor and the salvation of our lives, come, let us make a name for ourselves in creation, better than everyone, so that the generations to come may liken their strength to ours. Come, let us be valiant over the confusion of the name of the builder, and let us make with him a crown of power in the face of the height. Come, let us tremble with the armor of the edge against the battles, and let us cast spears at the God who restrains and destroys our race. Come, let us prepare a cup of the blood of our fellows, that they may perish by the sword of waters that are without restraint. Come, let us do to him as he did to the sons of our people, pursuing with his hands what he has conquered, that he may cast it from us. Come, let us say to him what has been conquered, as in a contest, that over what you have destroyed, the magi and humanity are silent. With contest and armor he approached him valiantly, and took his rank and the name of his authority, and it became our own. He cast foundations and kindled the fire in flames that are not extinguished by what is sprinkled by waters upon them. He sought a covering and suppressed it, and filled it with armor and life, that it might suffice for the day of the contest that is prepared for us. He opened its sides and cast fire into the midst of its greatness, so that the waves of water and the blasts of wind would not disturb it. He established its bricks firmly, as is fitting for us, that our firmness might not be shaken after a time. With cunning bricks he built it entirely, as if with stones, and instead of mortar he cast bitumen between its courses.

tower. They mixed lime and bricks together in the work of toil, so that the changing of the seasons of cold and heat would not alter it. And with their work they strengthened the foundation together, and they did not fear the one who would come to contend with them. They did not see, one did not trust his companion at the time of the crisis, lest the one who opposed them scatter the whole earth. Or the chosen ones, who, though unwilling, separated and were scattered, and anticipated and crushed the plans of those who came after. Or the blind, who, though they did not see, saw clearly, and were amazed and scattered at that which was destined, as if it had already happened. Or they were of one mind in the work of iniquity, that they laid hands without the equality of their tongues. They proclaimed, though it was not theirs, over their debts, and revealed and showed their folly to all sides. They laid hands and wrote and agreed that if they were scattered, they would not be divided by the decree of the one who would shut their mouths. They wrote their contract with a broken pen of their tongues, and they did not cease and become silent from the foolish thought they had conceived. They deepened and dug and laid foundations as if for eternity, and they did not know that the time was near when they would be overturned. They kindled furnaces and burned lime and began to build, and with their building their thoughts were raised up. As the building was raised to the heights, their heart was raised even more in arrogance. As day by day the building increased in its dimensions, the iniquity within them grew without measure.

Their heart was wakeful, and they did not sleep by night or by day. And though they did not know where they were going, they were not aware. They were diligent, eager for when they would ascend to the top of their structure, and they were waiting for when they would see the completion of the work. The desire within them was not satisfied with building, and they did not cease from sensations and tremors due to the labor. He saw the work that he had seen before them, that they were building in vain and increasing sin. He saw that if they build, they cannot build as they had hoped, and he restrained them so that they would not be scattered in toil and wickedness. He had compassion and mercy, as one who is accustomed to mercy, and he began to interpret the voices of love and of bread. Love cleansed by the hidden fire that is upon the hearths, and by compassion he cut off the pain of their shepherds. For mercy had mercy upon that labor that was without profit, and by the form of wrath he removed them from the flood. The form of wrath filled the voice that he made heard to them, and within it he concealed a love that cannot be spoken. A clear voice he made heard from silence to the summit of the voice that was being prepared, he and his people, from that which was to come. By the words of his counsel he took counsel, knowing all, and as if for help he called them to come down with him. Behold, these men were one people and one language, and they strove together to contend against my will. Behold, the sons of Adam rebelled against my lordship like their father, and they seek to ascend the high step of divinity.

Behold, the dead who saw from the death of the love of the bond of the waters, and they sought a hiding place to conceal themselves in from the flood. Behold, the earths prepared a tremor and bound a secret to ascend and to cast a trembling into the height between me and him. Behold, they placed a condition that they would not be divided, one from his companion, until they conquered and that which was theirs became the height and the depth. Behold, they toiled when they did not will over their confusion, and it is fitting that the word which they spoke be completed by deeds. Come, let us show and divide between one and his companion, so that they no longer hear the speech and language of their tongues. Come, let us cast into them a trembling in silence, when they do not perceive, and let us cut off from them the edge of the word which they have dared in it. Come, equally let us bring down to the earth without disturbance, and let us make a treaty with the flesh which is not in the airs. Come, let us give them a distinct language of all tongues, and behold, they are divided and the treaty of their thoughts ceases. Come, let us kindle in them a new voice which does not cease in them, and let us cast from them the confusion of the regions. O Creator, from where is this which translates itself, that it renews voices which hear your sign upon your essence? Why do you call to bring down your people to the house of the earths, and why do you desire that it be a help to your strength? With what are you counseled that there be with you a speech for a man, and why do you come that you come with me to show and divide between? From where was there for you a king, a counsel, a counsel in the beginning of creation, and why do you conceal hidden mysteries of your divinity? From where was your helper when you were creating heaven and earth, and from where your strength that you give strength in the work of your hands?

To what end, then, did you call, or did you draw near to the speech of your people? And why did you prepare to cut off a likeness, as in your trial? What is your voice like that first one, on the day of the beginning, when you were making the image of Adam with the finger of your sign? There, alone, you made heard a voice like this one, that again a man would make in your image, as if from your death. One voice and one meaning, of this one and that one. There again he makes, and here he shows, of blood and truth. One sign that the herald proclaimed to this one and to that one, and one measure that he fixed there and divided here. He called the sons of his kingdom in that which he showed and in that which he made, and they became men who made and divided men. He is the father who called the son and the spirit in the union of Adam, and he was able to go to the division of that which he created. In the union of men and the division of men, the Creator desired to reveal the mystery of the testing of the persons that is hidden with him. That city is a measure in which there is no deed greater than that of man, for behold, the hidden things of the hidden are revealed from all of it. And unless he seeks what the cause is, that which he says, that in his union and in his division he alone is the beginning. If not, he called the son and the spirit from him in both of them; what measure is equal to him, that he might take counsel with him? To the heavens, that voice would not be fitting, that again with me he makes, and again with me he shows, like his partners. If he said, "They went, they showed, they divided the hour of men," it would be like water, that he called also to the spirits and sent. For there is no cessation of any kind, that again he shows, that to the son and the spirit, the persons with him, it was said.

Son and Spirit, they divided the sound and the division, and with the Father they created everything and divided the people. They sounded and divided wisely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a single nature. They descended now without division, they took speech and suspended speech for the nature of the people. In the division of the people they inscribed the mystery of their mouths and interpreted the end through the gift of languages. They called to one another toward the sound and toward the division, that each person might learn that the nature of the three is one. They descended that you might divide not the descent of the word, but by the sign of the unutterable, its swiftness. The sign established like a messenger toward the winds, and it cried out from my silence and terrified the one who was to the words of the staff. It is the sign that descended and took from them the armor of speech and clothed them with another armor of another speech. With a harsh sword it cut the speech of their tongues and placed in them a speech that was different from the first. It took the first that taught the one who sounds all, again the second that made known the one who rules over all. Wisely it approached with them according to their desire, and changed the body with the thick one, made a disturbance. Artfully it held the generation with their movements and bound them in the harsh bonds of their tongues. The battle that the hidden one made with the earth-dwellers was wondrous, and it was not possible to know how much its wonder was if it were known. What were those cymbals that he held in his hand, and speech perished over the limbs and the body did not feel.

How, then, upon the hidden sign, did their thought stumble? And he seized the treasure that was in them, and they did not perceive it. How did he snatch the word from their mouth, the power of the sound? And he made them into tongues and dialects, one against the other. How did he cut off the first articulate living being from speaking? And the words do not run in the opening of the mouth as before. How did he break that single language's discipline? And he set a path for them to go astray with new sounds. How, and what shall we say, that it was that which was, that he cut the word and confused the word by a change of sound? To that sign which performed this, the power of her being is hidden, who knows how she performed it swiftly. To him it is revealed how the word of man was compressed, and how again he gave another wealth that is separate from that one. His is the wealth of the other word and the first, and he cuts the word and joins the word in it, in the sound. The intention of his sign was bent from my silence in the furnace of the soul. And the song began, new sounds of memories for her. That command which blew her forth in the beginning and fashioned the sound, he rejoiced with her in another speech and she heard his voice. Not her nature did he change and make another sound, but the first speech changed in its own self. To the word the command pointed with another spice, and it fashioned the vessel and the sound changed and she marveled at it. That sound which he said "descend" descended, he and with him, and it terrified the ranks of men who were in haste. He descended as if he did not descend, for there is no place for him to walk in; his command descended and his word was fulfilled, and he as he is.

He descended, though he is the hunter of all and in all without end, and by his death he humbled man from his height. He descended and stirred up their thoughts to arrogance, and took from them the tremor of confidence that they had been clothed in. Great wonder fell from the silence of the marchers, and they sat, marveling at the hand of chance. They looked at one another, each broken before the other, whether they were men or perhaps another vision. One spoke with another in a foreign voice for the word that was in them, and the ear was unable to hear the power of the sound. For they heard the hearing of the ear without understanding, and they also saw the muttering of the mouth without meaning. The weak stood in divisions over the world that was, and bodies wept, being divided, for they were not of one blood. The vision of the body was true to the eyes of the body, and the voice of the word was foreign, good for the hearing of the ear. The eyes and ears were wonders, one with its companion, that one saw and one was blind from meaning. The mouth in silence marveled at its limbs, where it had spoken distinct tongues and itself did not know. Astonishment and wonder fell upon the limbs and members, and the soul marveled at the body and the body at the soul. The soul in the body was amazed that it heard and was silent, and the body at the soul marveled at the foreignness of its speech. The soul was even more amazed at itself in its cessation, how the voice of the sounds of its eloquence had changed. "I, I, the soul, or not I, I," it said to itself, "why has my first standing passed away, and in what has it become last?

Oh, the great wonder is exceedingly great, and all of it is astonishment: that the soul hears the voice of its thoughts and does not understand. Oh, the new things of the hunt of the dead are being stirred up, who, when they were in soul and body, were numerous. Oh, the words that destroyed the Word and silenced words, and from one speaker of one language they made many. New sounds were being spoken among the earths, and men were being confused with women in the change of sounds. Men called to one another, man to man, and no man heard, and the word became as if no word for the speakers. The uproar cried out to the silence that sought the word, and the word of the mouth did not answer it, mouth to mouth with its companion. The Roman tongue with the Egyptian, the Persian with the Greek, and it was not enough to distinguish the tongue of the Greek from his neighbor. A sign was given, but not understood because of the multitude of their voices, and he was silent and amazed as if he did not hear what he had not heard. The interpreter approached the one who was listening to him, and his words were excessive and did not succeed. Each one translated with his own soul according to his own tongue, and he loosened the power of understanding that the sign had placed in him. They were weary and scattered as they cried out, one against his companion, and they gave no reward of the word of the mouth, sound to sound. In the pangs of pain they were being tormented like a woman in labor, and the soul was not sufficient to give birth to the offspring of the word. In the form of an offspring, something speaking was being changed in the soul, and the two doors of the mouth were held shut before its exit. That commander who gave birth to the word in the thought of the soul, it is he who shut the door in its face so that it would not come out again.

The word was silent within the thoughts, and the word came to be. It was the one that was silent, it was the one that came to be within another. One was the word that was divided into languages, and from it it sprouted for the seventy peoples in the form of a tribe. In the form of a mother, it spread its branches to all regions, and it, as it is, remained, its power in the root of the soul. Like a root, speech remained for a single people, and it alone was troubled in that first one. As if by dialects, the hidden command divided the letters, and each one spoke in the dialect of the word that arose in its name. Love and mercy were mingled in that one and in every part, and when it divided well, the love placed in the assembly did not cease. For one dialect reached the fathers and their children, and with one word the male and his wife and his children spoke. With wisdom and love, this one who arranges everything accomplishes it, so that the order and arrangement of partnership are not corrupted. With great order, it divided the letters and established the letters, in the form of a father who bequeathed to his children the wealth of the voice. In the form of a mother, she gave the wealth of her sweetness, which casts a boundary among the heirs who received the power of her wisdom. And when anger was full, that voice which was from the abyss was filled, a demon was sent to the evil children by its descent. The sign of the demon was astonished at the tower and its seed, and the voice changed in the forms of anger for the confusion of men. In the form of a sword and a sling, the voice was wrapped, and when it raised it as if to kill, it spared with mercy.

It was not to slay that Nimrod raised his sword and showed his anger, but to make known that he had not seen iniquity. Not against those who sought to build the tower of iniquity did Nimrod divide, but to pursue the iniquity that was in the division. From the beginning this was set for him to do, and he did it with wisdom, as one who knows how to do well. For he knew before the word was fixed in itself that rebellion from it after a time would bring forth a flood of words. He divided this division before anything else, and in it the just one saw until heaven and earth should be. Not a new thought came to him concerning the division, nor did wrath overcome him so that he descended and gave languages. In the form of wrath, as one who fears for his household, as he did from the beginning in the house of Adam. For also the serpent, by means of the fruit, brought in death, which taught Nimrod to be one with the generation. The lower ones also, the flood, by means of iniquity, he said, did, so that it cast commands into the clay of a man who would not be stirred. Because iniquity cursed the edifice and made it a work that no man might dwell freely in the father who begot him. In this sign he descended also now towards the builders, so that in the form of the sound of division a man might be stirred. For the stirrer descended, his will is that he descended, and stirred men who were pressed as if for wrath. He saw that they were eager to seek rebellion freely, and he descended, hid himself in the building of iniquity until it was finished. He saw that they were bold to make height, to ascend towards him, and he made a sound and scattered Nimrod so that he was not overthrown.

He commanded like a king of wrath over the rebels and cast them into the regions. He issued a command of hidden sign like a ruler and bound them with the harsh yoke of their tongues. He placed another word in their mouths like a chain and confined them in a prison of their tongues. As if to the rebellious he sent them to the regions so that they would no longer raise the rebellion of iniquity against his lordship. A new speech was confused for them, a sign in the form of a rod, and he drove them from Babel as if in anger. How much was this command over the rebels like that command which expelled Adam from Paradise! As if in wrath he expelled them with Adam, for through Adam and them the earth was filled with the life of men. In this dispersion he cast them into the regions so that the dwelling of the earth would not be filled with much slaughter. If they had remained in one place as they had intended, much evil would have increased and they would have thirsted for blood in the passion of the earth. If they had persisted in the land of Babel in the tower of rebellion, they would have rebelled in it against authority according to their passion. If he had not given an end to their confusion, iniquity would have increased abundantly in their dwelling place. It was good that he divided and scattered them so that their wickedness would not increase iniquity and raise up tumult. They went out from Babel to divide the earth which was allotted to them, and each one of them took the region where the sign placed him. Like a guide the divine sign was for them and showed them the way of rebellion for all generations.

He cast that division which divided the tongues among the regions of their dwelling-places. In the likeness of a great one he was to them a sign for the rebels of heart, and he made them wise to dwell in the land to which they were sent. A swift scribe wrote upon the tablets of their minds and taught them to read well in the word that was in them. They read and conversed in the writings of their thoughts and interpreted the power hidden in the utterance of their tongues. They were masters of a new speech which their heart produced, and they established canons for the conduct of earthly life. With that speech they set up an addition to strike the order, and they began meditation on the beauties of body and soul. That which was in the form of wrath was not more excellent, and wisely it wrought its good against evil. Love and compassion filled it all, and no one knew, and it was the entrance of Satan for demons and spirits. The utterance of Satan gave a division of tongues, and from it the earthly and heavenly ones became rich. The spirits saw the love which would show good to the race, and they set up a hope that there was hope for our lostness. They saw that the voice of the whisperer was changed toward sweetness, and they turned the strings, which were a delight for those to be strung. Harsh strings filled with voice that which came from the whisperer, and they turned it into compassion and they divided the tongues of Satan. Satan divided in the form of wrath, loving man, lest the sons of the sword who love evil become many. Lives hastened, mixed with voice, and gave them to drink that they might form the mystery of that which is destined at the end of the ages.

He wrought a mystery in that division which, in the form of a tower, was that gift which he gave to the apostles in the likeness of a tower. That which was destined beforehand he examined in this which occurred, so that what is confused might not be hindered from the sight of the watchers. He was rich in revealing the persons of his people in the human tongue, and he gave languages to the peoples as a gift. The way of the mediator which he began for us, the voice which divided men, that they might go to the assembly for the coming of the mediator of divinity. He examined the persons of the son and revealed the spirit and taught us that the peoples of the father divided the tongues and gave languages. That division which they divided was in the form of wrath, and again they gave the power of confusion in the vision of the tower. The power of essence they learned from the two of them, that his are the first and the last. To him a single confession is due, to the one who sets all in order, who showed his love and made wise the men in his mysteries.