25 For this reason the whole land of Shinar is called Babel, because the Lord did there confound all the language of the children of men, and from thence they were dispersed into their cities, each according to his language and his nation. 26 And the Lord sent a mighty wind against the tower and overthrew it upon the earth, and behold it was between Asshur and Babylon in the land of Shinar, and they called its name 'Overthrow'. 27 In the fourth week in the first year [1688 A.M.] in the beginning thereof in the four and thirtieth jubilee, were they dispersed from the land of Shinar.

The Holy One, blessed be He, thereupon declared: You evil men, because you have sinned with the words Come, let us, I shall confound you through those very words, as it is said: Come, let us go down there and confound their language (ibid., v. 7). R. Hiyya the son of Abba said: One third of the tower they erected was consumed in fire, another third was swallowed into the earth, and the remainder was left standing. Yet if one climbed to the summit of the remaining third, the palm trees in Jericho below appeared no larger than grasshoppers.