They named it Babel

Responding to Genesis ch.11

Haiku for a scattering.

A primeval yarn

to explain how languages

divide humankind.

Once we were all one,

one people, language and speech;

so the story goes.

Humankind agreed,

let us build a tower, high

to reach the heavens.

With mortar and clay

bricks fired like stone, the people

began to construct.

How clever we are!

Our name shall surely be great

throughout the whole earth!

God comes down to see

what's going on. Takes one look,

expresses alarm.

Behold how clever

these people are, now nothing

will be beyond them!

Confounding their speech

becomes the means by which God

institutes limits.

Scattered across earth

with languages that divide;

that's where it went wrong!

They named it Babel.

© Ken Rookes 2025

I will seek them out

Haiku for the scattered

The sheep are scattered.

God’s people, dispersed, exiled

among the nations.

I will search for them,

says God. They are my own sheep,

I will seek them out.

I will rescue them

from all their scattered places;

I’ll be their shepherd.

I will bring them home

to Israel’s mountains, give

them food and water.

They’ll have rich pasture,

lie down in good grazing land.

I’ll be their shepherd.

I will seek the lost,

bind the injured, and strengthen

the weak They are mine.

The fat and the strong

I will destroy. They’ll receive

the justice that’s due.

Between sheep and sheep

I will judge; those who ravage,

and the scattered ones.

A true shepherd comes,

my servant David, a prince;

he shall tend my flock.

© Ken Rookes 2023