Babel, Pt. 2 "Babel": No. 6, Now Nimrod, the Mighty Warrior

BARITONE:

Now Nimrod, the mighty warrior,

Aroused them to disobey God.

He provoked them to sedition,

He turned men away from God

To bring dependence on his own power.

   

And in his days they built a city and a tower saying:

CHORUS:

By this tower let us ascend into heaven.

Come let us make a name for ourselves,

Lest we be divided and scattered abroad.

BARITONE:

So they began to build.

CHORUS:

In the fourth week they made bricks with fire,

And bricks served them for stone.

And the clay that cemented them

Was asphalt from the sea.

And water from the fountains of Shinar.

And they built the tower,

Three and forty years

Its breadth - two hundred and three bricks -

It’s height – five thousand, four hundred and thirty-three cubits, and two palms.

     

BARITONE:

God saw the city and the tower

Which the children of men had built

And said:

SOPRANO SOLO/TENOR SOLO/BARITONE SOLO:

They are one people,

They have one language.

Nothing they plan to do

Will now be impossible for them.

This is just the beginning.

I will go down

And confuse their language,

That they may not understand each other’s speech.