The nam-shub of Enki is from the Sumerian cuneiform. It records speaking in tongues as God's punishment to separate spiritual people from those attempting to climb their own "tower of Babel" to force God to give them a direct revelation.
- Once upon a time, there was no snake, there was no scorpion,
- There was no hyena, there was no lion,
- There was no wild dog, no wolf,
- There was no fear, no terror,
- Man had no rival.
In those days, the land Shubur-Hamazi,
- Harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the me of princeship,
- Uri, the land having all that is appropriate,
- The land Martu, resting in security,
- The whole universe, the people well cared for,
To Enlil in one tongue gave speech.
- Then the lord defiant, the prince defiant, the king defiant,
- Enki, the lord of abundance, whose commands are trustworthy,
- The lord of wisdom, who scans the land,
- The leader of the gods,
- The lord of Eridu, endowed with wisdom,
- Changed the speech in their mouths, put contention into it,
- Into the speech of man that had been one.
In the Bible, Moses wrote:
Genesis 11:1-9
1.And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2.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.
3.And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4.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.
5.And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6.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.
7.Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8.So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9.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.