they would be perfectly safe from any flood which might come, or any
fire. There were some of the people also who wished to use the tower as
a temple for the idols which they worshiped. Six hundred thousand men
worked upon this wonderful tower, so the story goes on to say, and they
kept up the work until the tower rose to a height of seventy miles, so
that, toward the last, it took a year to get materials for the work up
to the top where the laborers were employed. Of course this story is
exaggerated, but without doubt the tower rose to a great height and was
a wonderful piece of work.

God was not pleased with what the people were doing, however, because
they thought themselves so great and powerful that they had no need of
Him, and so He put an end to their bold plans.

Up to this time all the people of the world had spoken the same
language; but now, when they were working upon this wonderful tower,
they commenced to talk in different tongues so that they could not
understand each other, and there was great confusion. Owing to this,
they were obliged to give up the building of the tower, and they
separated themselves into groups, or divisions, each division speaking
the same language, and then they spread out over the world, forming the
various nations.

The tower was called the Tower of Babel because of the babel, or
confusion, of tongues which had taken place there, and it was left
unfinished to be a monument of God's power and man's weakness without
Him.

[Illustration: THE TOWER OF BABEL.]