The builders of the Tower of Babel were punished with the exact same thing they feared most. The Mekhilta highlights the devastating irony embedded in the biblical narrative.
The men of that generation said to one another: "Let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves — lest we be scattered" (Genesis 11:4). Their explicit goal was to prevent scattering. They wanted to stay together, unified by a monument so tall it would anchor them to one place forever.
God looked at their project and responded: "Let us go down" (Genesis 11:7). And what did He do? "The Lord scattered them from there over the face of all the earth" (Genesis 11:8). The very outcome they built the tower to prevent became their punishment.
The Mekhilta presents this as part of a larger divine pattern: God punishes the wicked with the very thing they used to vaunt themselves. The tower builders boasted about reaching heaven, so God came down to them. They feared being scattered, so God scattered them. They wanted to make a name for themselves, so God gave them names — but in the form of incomprehensible languages that no one else could understand.
Every element of their pride became the instrument of their downfall. The measure-for-measure principle runs through all of Scripture, and the Tower of Babel stands as one of its most vivid demonstrations.