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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput V: De descensione domini ad confundendam linguam aedificantium turrem.

Quod enim scriptum est: et descendit dominus uidere ciuitatem et turrem, quam aedificauerunt filii hominum, hoc est non filii dei, sed illa societas secundum hominem uiuens, quam terrenam dicimus ciuitatem: non loco mouetur deus, qui semper est ubique totus, sed descendere dicitur, cum aliquid facit in terra, quod praeter usitatum naturae cursum mirabiliter factum praesentiam quodammodo eius ostendat; nec uidendo discit ad tempus, qui numquam potest aliquid ignorare, sed ad tempus uidere et cognoscere dicitur, quod uideri et cognosci facit. non sic ergo uidebatur illa ciuitas, quomodo eam deus uideri fecit, quando sibi quantum displiceret ostendit. quamuis possit intellegi deus ad illam ciuitatem descendisse, quia descenderunt angeli eius in quibus habitat; ut, quod adiunctum est: et dixit dominus deus: ecce genus unum et labium unum omnium, et cetera, ac deinde additum: uenite et descendentes confundamus ibi linguam eorum, recapitulatio sit, demonstrans quemadmodum factum sit, quod dictum fuerat: descendit dominus. si enim iam descenderat, quid sibi uult: uenite et descendentes confundamus - quod intellegitur angelis dictum - , nisi quia per angelos descendebat, qui in angelis descendentibus erat? et bene non ait: uenite et descendentes confundite, sed: confundamus ibi linguam eorum, ostendens ita se operari per ministros suos, ut sint etiam ipsi cooperatores dei, sicut apostolus dicit: dei enim sumus cooperarii.

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The City of God

Chapter 5.--Of God's Coming Down to Confound the Languages of the Builders of the City.

We read, "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men built:" it was not the sons of God, but that society which lived in a merely human way, and which we call the earthly city. God, who is always wholly everywhere, does not move locally; but He is said to descend when He does anything in the earth out of the usual course, which, as it were, makes His presence felt. And in the same way, He does not by "seeing" learn some new thing, for He cannot ever be ignorant of anything; but He is said to see and recognize, in time, that which He causes others to see and recognize. And therefore that city was not previously being seen as God made it be seen when He showed how offensive it was to Him. We might, indeed, interpret God's descending to the city of the descent of His angels in whom He dwells; so that the following words, "And the Lord God said, Behold, they are all one race and of one language," and also what follows, "Come, and let us go down and confound their speech," are a recapitulation, explaining how the previously intimated "descent of the Lord" was accomplished. For if He had already gone down, why does He say, "Come, and let us go down and confound?"--words which seem to be addressed to the angels, and to intimate that He who was in the angels descended in their descent. And the words most appropriately are, not, "Go ye down and confound," but, "Let us confound their speech;" showing that He so works by His servants, that they are themselves also fellow-laborers with God, as the apostle says, "For we are fellow-laborers with God." ¹