The Fallible Study Bible

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Genesis11:1–9

The Tower of Babel

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Genesis 11:1–9 — The Tower of Babel. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ way·hî ’e·ḥāṯ śā·p̄āh ’ă·ḥā·ḏîm ū·ḏə·ḇā·rîm

Word by word7 · parsed
כָל־ḵālNow the wholeH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
כָל־ (H3605, kôl) — "the whole, all." This same word frames the unit's end (11:9, "the language of all the earth … the face of all the earth"), binding the opening unity to the closing dispersion.
הָאָ֖רֶץhā·’ā·reṣworldH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
הָאָ֖רֶץ (H776, ’ereṣ) — "the earth/land." JFB: "Earth is oft put for its inhabitants, as Genesis 6:21 1 Chronicles 16:23 Psalm 33:8." The narrative is universal in scope — all mankind, one speech.
וַֽיְהִ֥יway·hîhadH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶחָ֑ת’e·ḥāṯoneH259
√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular
אֶחָ֑ת (H259, ’eḥāḏ) — "one, united." The root carries the sense of unity, not mere numerical singularity. Keil & Delitzsch render the Hebrew "one lip and one kind of words," then crystallize it in the Latin unius labii eorundemque verborum ("of one lip and of the same words") — the keynote ⚙ this unit hears repeated in the twin ’eḥāt / ’ăḥāḏîm of v.1.
שָׂפָ֣הśā·p̄āhlanguageH8193
√ sâphâh — the lip (as a natural boundary)Nounfeminine singular
שָׂפָ֣ה (H8193, śāp̄āh) — "lip," hence speech as articulated. This is the very word God will move against in v.7 ("confuse their lip"). The whole judgment turns on this one noun: humanity is one lip, and one lip is what God divides.
אֲחָדִֽים׃’ă·ḥā·ḏîmand a commonH259
√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumbermasculine plural
וּדְבָרִ֖יםū·ḏə·ḇā·rîmform of speechH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural
וּדְבָרִ֖ים (H1697, dāḇār) — "words, matter." Barnes: "One stock of words … naturally indicates the matter, the substance, or material of language." Form (lip) and matter (words) together name the full unity of human speech before Babel.
2

And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî bə·nā·sə·‘ām miq·qe·ḏem way·yim·ṣə·’ū ḇiq·‘āh bə·’e·reṣ šin·‘ār way·yê·šə·ḇū šām

Word by word9 · parsed
וַֽיְהִ֖יway·hîAndH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
בְּנָסְעָ֣םbə·nā·sə·‘āmas people journeyedH5265
√ nâçaʻ — properly, to pull up, especially the tent-pins, iPreposition-bVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine plural
בְּנָסְעָ֣ם (H5265, nāsa‘) — "to pull up (tent-pins), break camp, journey." The infinitive paints settled people who are still, for now, restless wanderers — about to make themselves permanent against the divine command to fill the earth.
מִקֶּ֑דֶםmiq·qe·ḏemeastwardH6924
√ qedem — the front, of place (absolutely, the fore part, relatively the East) or time (antiquity)Preposition-mNounmasculine singular
מִקֶּ֑דֶם (H6924, qedem) — "east; front; antiquity." In Genesis, eastward movement repeatedly tracks movement away from God's presence (Cain, 4:16; the expulsion eastward, 3:24). Gill reads it as a departure from "the east of the garden of Eden, where was the appearance of the divine Presence, or Shechinah."
וַֽיִּמְצְא֥וּway·yim·ṣə·’ūthey foundH4672
√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
בִקְעָ֛הḇiq·‘āha plainH1237
√ biqʻâh — properly, a split, iNounfeminine singular
בְּאֶ֥רֶץbə·’e·reṣin the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
שִׁנְעָ֖רšin·‘ārof ShinarH8152
√ Shinʻâr — Shinar, a plain in BabyloniaNounproperfeminine singular
שִׁנְעָ֖ר (H8152, Shinʻār) — Shinar, the plain of Babylonia. A rare proper name (8 verses in the whole Hebrew Bible). It is the seedbed of the world-empire: here at the dawn of the nations, and again where Israel's story darkens (Daniel 1:2, the temple vessels carried "to the land of Shinar").
וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּway·yê·šə·ḇūand settledH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ (H3427, yāšaḇ) — "to sit, dwell, settle." To settle there is the first act of the rebellion: God said spread; they said stay. The whole episode is the undoing of that settling.
שָֽׁם׃šāmthereH8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
3

And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yō·mə·rū ’el- ’îš rê·‘ê·hū hā·ḇāh nil·bə·nāh lə·ḇê·nîm wə·niś·rə·p̄āh liś·rê·p̄āh wat·tə·hî lā·hem hal·lə·ḇê·nāh lə·’ā·ḇen wə·ha·ḥê·mār hā·yāh lā·hem la·ḥō·mer

Word by word17 · parsed
וַיֹּאמְר֞וּway·yō·mə·rūAnd they saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
אִ֣ישׁ’îšoneH376
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular
רֵעֵ֗הוּrê·‘ê·hūanotherH7453
√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
הָ֚בָהhā·ḇāhComeH3051
√ yâhab — to give (whether literal or figurative)VerbQalImperativemasculine singularthird person feminine singular
נִלְבְּנָ֣הnil·bə·nāhlet us makeH3835
√ lâban — to be (or become) whiteVerbQalImperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural
נִלְבְּנָ֣ה (H3835, lāḇan) — "to make brick," denominative, lit. "to make white." The cohortative ("let us") is the builders' answer to their fear of dispersion — the first of three "let us" cries (vv.3, 4) that God will mock with His own "let Us" in v.7.
לְבֵנִ֔יםlə·ḇê·nîmbricksH3843
√ lᵉbênâh — a brick (from the whiteness of the clay)Nounfeminine plural
לְבֵנִ֔ים (H3843, lᵉḇênâh) — "brick." Man-made stone. The same word names the slave-brick of Egypt (Exodus 1:14; 5:7) — the building project that begins in self-assertion ends, by the same noun, in bondage.
וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖הwə·niś·rə·p̄āhand bake themH8313
√ sâraph — to be (causatively, set) on fireConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural
לִשְׂרֵפָ֑הliś·rê·p̄āhthoroughlyH8316
√ sᵉrêphâh — cremationPreposition-lNounfeminine singular
וַתְּהִ֨יwat·tə·hîSo they usedH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular
לָהֶ֤םlā·hem
Prepositionthird person masculine plural
הַלְּבֵנָה֙hal·lə·ḇê·nāhbrickH3843
√ lᵉbênâh — a brick (from the whiteness of the clay)ArticleNounfeminine singular
לְאָ֔בֶןlə·’ā·ḇeninstead of stoneH68
√ ʼeben — a stonePreposition-lNounfeminine singular
לְאָ֔בֶן (H68, ’eḇen) — "stone." Barnes: the very mention of brick for stone "indicates a writer belonging to a country and an age in which stone buildings were familiar, and therefore not to Babylonia" — a Hebrew telling a Babylonian story.
וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔רwə·ha·ḥê·mārand tarH2564
√ chêmâr — bitumen (as rising to the surface)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine singular
חֵמָ֔ר (H2564, ḥēmār) — "bitumen, slime." The same substance that sealed the ark of Noah and the basket of Moses (Exodus 2:3) here cements a tower of pride. The material is neutral; the building's intent is everything.
הָיָ֥הhā·yāhH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
לָהֶ֖םlā·hem
Prepositionthird person masculine plural
לַחֹֽמֶר׃la·ḥō·merinstead of mortarH2563
√ chômer — properly, a bubbling up, iPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular
לַחֹֽמֶר׃ (H2563, ḥōmer) — "mortar, clay." A third sound-play with ḥēmār above; the Pulpit Commentary calls it "possibly designed by the writer to represent the enthusiasm of the builders."
4

“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hā·ḇāh way·yō·mə·rū niḇ·neh- lā·nū ‘îr ū·miḡ·dāl wə·rō·šōw ḇaš·šā·ma·yim wə·na·‘ă·śeh- šêm lā·nū pen- nā·p̄ūṣ ‘al- pə·nê ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ

Word by word17 · parsed
הָ֣בָה׀hā·ḇāhComeH3051
√ yâhab — to give (whether literal or figurative)VerbQalImperativemasculine singularthird person feminine singular
וַיֹּאמְר֞וּway·yō·mə·rūthey saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
נִבְנֶה־niḇ·neh-let us buildH1129
√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalImperfect Cohortative if contextualfirst person common plural
נִבְנֶה־ (H1129, bānâh) — "to build." The verb of the whole project; God will answer it in v.8, "they stopped building." Man builds upward; God comes down (v.5). The architecture of the chapter is itself the irony.
לָּ֣נוּlā·nūfor ourselves
Prepositionfirst person common plural
עִ֗יר‘îra cityH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine singular
וּמִגְדָּל֙ū·miḡ·dālwith a towerH4026
√ migdâl — a tower (from its size or height)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular
וּמִגְדָּל֙ (H4026, migdāl) — "tower" (from its height). The Cambridge Bible connects it to the Babylonian ziggurat whose "highest stage … was surmounted by a shrine of the deity," giving "more meaning and less fancifulness in these words than has often been suspected."
וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹwə·rō·šōwthat reachesH7218
√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
בַשָּׁמַ֔יִםḇaš·šā·ma·yimto the heavensH8064
√ shâmayim — the sky (as aloftPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine plural
בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם (H8064, šāmayim) — "the heavens, sky." Whether the phrase is mere hyperbole for great height (JFB, Poole) or a literal reach toward heaven's vault (Cambridge) is debated; the parses settle only that the tower's head is said to be in the heavens, not reaching toward them.
וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־wə·na·‘ă·śeh-that we may makeH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfect Cohortative if contextualfirst person common plural
שֵׁ֑םšêma nameH8034
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular
שֵׁ֑ם (H8034, šēm) — "name, renown." The theological pivot of the unit. Keil & Delitzsch: šēm lô ʽāśâh means "to establish a name, or reputation, to set up a memorial (Isaiah 63:12, 14; Jeremiah 32:20)." Self-naming is the sin; the gospel answer is a name received, not seized (cf. Genesis 12:2; Philippians 2:9).
לָּ֖נוּlā·nūfor ourselves
Prepositionfirst person common plural
פֶּן־pen-and notH6435
√ pên — properly, removalConjunction
פֶּן־ (H6435, pēn) — "lest," a particle expressing the thing to be avoided. Their dread (scattering) becomes their sentence (v.8): the precise fear they built against, God brings upon them.
נָפ֖וּץnā·p̄ūṣbe scatteredH6327
√ pûwts — to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse)VerbQalImperfectfirst person common plural
עַל־‘al-overH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
פְּנֵ֥יpə·nêthe faceH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
כָל־ḵālof allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָאָֽרֶץ׃hā·’ā·reṣthe earthH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
5

Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·yê·reḏ lir·’ōṯ ’eṯ- hā·‘îr wə·’eṯ- ham·miḡ·dāl ’ă·šer bə·nê hā·’ā·ḏām bā·nū

Word by word11 · parsed
יְהוָ֔הYah·wehThen the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
יְהוָ֔ה (H3068, Yahweh) — the covenant name. The personal LORD, not a generic deity, is the one who "comes down." The same Name will give the sentence (vv.6–7), execute it (v.8), and stand at the center of the verdict-name Babel (v.9).
וַיֵּ֣רֶדway·yê·reḏcame downH3381
√ yârad — to descend (literally, to go downwardsConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וַיֵּ֣רֶד (H3381, yāraḏ) — "to descend." The deliberate counterpoint to the builders' upward reach. Rabbi Schelomo, quoted in the Pulpit Commentary, hears the irony: "Let us build up, say they, and scale the heavens. Let us go down, says God, and defeat their impious thought."
לִרְאֹ֥תlir·’ōṯto seeH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
לִרְאֹ֥ת (H7200, rāʼâh) — "to see." Matthew Poole: God comes "to know the truth of the fact, thereby setting a pattern for judges to examine causes before they pass sentence." Divine justice condemns nothing unheard.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
הָעִ֖ירhā·‘îrthe cityH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine singular
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
הַמִּגְדָּ֑לham·miḡ·dāland the towerH4026
√ migdâl — a tower (from its size or height)ArticleNounmasculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêthe sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
הָאָדָֽם׃hā·’ā·ḏāmof menH120
√ ʼâdâm — ruddy iArticleNounmasculine singular
הָאָדָֽם׃ (H120, ’āḏām) — "man, mankind." The builders are Adam's race, repeating in the plain of Shinar the old reach for what belongs to God (cf. 3:5, 3:22). The Fall in Eden, the flood-generation, Babel — one trajectory.
בָּנ֖וּbā·nūwere buildingH1129
√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
6

And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·yō·mer hên ha·ḥil·lām la·‘ă·śō·wṯ wə·zeh ’e·ḥāḏ ‘am lə·ḵul·lām ’a·ḥaṯ wə·śā·p̄āh wə·‘at·tāh lō- kōl ’ă·šer yā·zə·mū la·‘ă·śō·wṯ yib·bā·ṣêr mê·hem

Word by word19 · parsed
יְהוָ֗הYah·wehAnd the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
יְהוָ֗ה (H3068, Yahweh) — the LORD speaks, says Henry, "within himself," or, with Poole and Geneva, "in way of holy scorn and derision." The verdict is deliberative, not anxious.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
הֵ֣ןhênIfH2005
√ hên — lo!Interjection
הֵ֣ן (H2005, hên) — "Behold!" An interjection of judicial notice. The same divine "Behold" of Genesis 3:22 ("the man has become like one of us") — Matthew Poole directs us there: "Compare Genesis 3:22." Babel re-runs Eden's grasp.
הַחִלָּ֣םha·ḥil·lāmthey have begunH2490
√ châlal — properly, to bore, iVerbHifilInfinitive constructthird person masculine plural
לַעֲשׂ֑וֹתla·‘ă·śō·wṯto doH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
וְזֶ֖הwə·zehthisH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatConjunctive wawPronounmasculine singular
אֶחָד֙’e·ḥāḏas oneH259
√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumbermasculine singular
עַ֤ם‘ampeopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine singular
עַ֤ם (H5971, ‘am) — "people," from a root "to bind together." A bound unity is not in itself evil; here it is unity organized against the divine purpose of fruitful dispersion (9:1).
לְכֻלָּ֔םlə·ḵul·lāmspeaking the sameH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine plural
אַחַת֙’a·ḥaṯ. . .H259
√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular
וְשָׂפָ֤הwə·śā·p̄āhlanguageH8193
√ sâphâh — the lip (as a natural boundary)Conjunctive wawNounfeminine singular
וְעַתָּה֙wə·‘at·tāhthenH6258
√ ʻattâh — at this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletiveConjunctive wawAdverb
לֹֽא־lō-nothingH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
כֹּ֛לkōl. . .H3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
יָזְמ֖וּyā·zə·mūthey deviseH2161
√ zâmam — to plan, usually in a bad senseVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural
לַֽעֲשֽׂוֹת׃la·‘ă·śō·wṯ. . .H6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
יִבָּצֵ֣רyib·bā·ṣêrwill be beyondH1219
√ bâtsar — to gather grapesVerbNifalImperfectthird person masculine singular
יִבָּצֵ֣ר (H1219, bāṣar) — Niphal, "to be withheld, cut off." JFB reads in it "an apparent admission that the design was practicable, and would have been executed but for the divine interposition" — a sober estimate of the power of unfettered human concert in sin.
מֵהֶ֔םmê·hemthem
Preposition-mPronounthird person masculine plural
7

Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hā·ḇāh nê·rə·ḏāh šām wə·nā·ḇə·lāh śə·p̄ā·ṯām ’ă·šer lō yiš·mə·‘ū ’îš rê·‘ê·hū śə·p̄aṯ

Word by word11 · parsed
הָ֚בָהhā·ḇāhComeH3051
√ yâhab — to give (whether literal or figurative)VerbQalImperativemasculine singularthird person feminine singular
הָ֚בָה (H3051, yāhaḇ) — "Come!" The builders' rallying cry (vv.3, 4) now turned back on them by God. The whole verse is heaven's parody of the conspiracy below.
נֵֽרְדָ֔הnê·rə·ḏāhlet Us go downH3381
√ yârad — to descend (literally, to go downwardsVerbQalImperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural
נֵֽרְדָ֔ה (H3381, yāraḏ) — "let Us go down," cohortative. The descent already begun in v.5 ("the LORD came down") is now resolved as judgment. Poole: "Let us, i.e. the blessed Trinity. See Genesis 1:26."
שָׁ֖םšām. . .H8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
וְנָבְלָ֥הwə·nā·ḇə·lāhand confuseH1101
√ bâlal — to overflow (specifically with oilConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural
וְנָבְלָ֥ה (H1101, bālal) — "to confound, mingle." The hinge-word of the unit. Keil & Delitzsch note its grammar ("nāḇəlâ for nāḇbəlâ, Kal from bālal"), and it generates the name Babel. The confusion is not merely of sounds but, K&D argue, of "the original unity of emotion, conception, thought, and will."
שְׂפָתָ֑םśə·p̄ā·ṯāmtheir languageH8193
√ sâphâh — the lip (as a natural boundary)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural
אֲשֶׁר֙’ă·šerso thatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
לֹ֣אlōthey will notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
יִשְׁמְע֔וּyiš·mə·‘ūunderstandH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural
יִשְׁמְע֔וּ (H8085, šāmaʻ) — "to hear, hear intelligently, obey." The same verb that elsewhere means to obey; at Babel mankind can no longer even hear one another, the social precondition of any shared rebellion — or any shared worship.
אִ֖ישׁ’îšoneH376
√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular
רֵעֵֽהוּ׃rê·‘ê·hūanother’sH7453
√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
שְׂפַ֥תśə·p̄aṯspeechH8193
√ sâphâh — the lip (as a natural boundary)Nounfeminine singular construct
8

So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh ’ō·ṯām way·yā·p̄eṣ miš·šām ‘al- pə·nê ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ way·yaḥ·də·lū liḇ·nōṯ hā·‘îr

Word by word11 · parsed
יְהוָ֥הYah·wehSo the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
יְהוָ֥ה (H3068, Yahweh) — the LORD, not the diverging tongues alone, is the actor. The verse names God as the direct subject of the scattering: judgment, not mere sociolinguistic drift.
אֹתָ֛ם’ō·ṯāmH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine plural
וַיָּ֨פֶץway·yā·p̄eṣscattered themH6327
√ pûwts — to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וַיָּ֨פֶץ (H6327, pûṣ) — "to scatter, disperse." The keyword of reversal: their pen nāp̄ûṣ ("lest we be scattered," v.4) becomes God's wayyāp̄eṣ ("He scattered"). Same root, fear and fulfillment. God's command to "fill the earth" (9:1) is accomplished through their punishment.
מִשָּׁ֖םmiš·šāmfrom thereH8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenPreposition-mAdverb
עַל־‘al-overH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
פְּנֵ֣יpə·nêthe faceH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
כָל־ḵālof allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָאָ֑רֶץhā·’ā·reṣthe earthH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
וַֽיַּחְדְּל֖וּway·yaḥ·də·lūand they stoppedH2308
√ châdal — properly, to be flabby, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
וַֽיַּחְדְּל֖וּ (H2308, ḥāḏal) — "to cease, leave off." The active verbs of building (vv.3–4) give way to this one verb of stopping. Henry: "It is wisdom to leave off that which we see God fights against."
לִבְנֹ֥תliḇ·nōṯbuildingH1129
√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
לִבְנֹ֥ת (H1129, bānâh) — "to build." The project-verb of the unit, here negated. Man builds (v.4), God comes down (v.5), man ceases to build (v.8): the whole arc in three uses of one root.
הָעִֽיר׃hā·‘îrthe cityH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine singular
9

That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

‘al- kên šə·māh qā·rā bā·ḇel kî- šām Yah·weh bā·lal śə·p̄aṯ kāl- hā·’ā·reṣ ū·miš·šām Yah·weh hĕ·p̄î·ṣām ‘al- pə·nê kāl- hā·’ā·reṣ

Word by word19 · parsed
עַל־‘al-That is whyH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
כֵּ֞ןkên. . .H3651
√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb
שְׁמָהּ֙šə·māhitH8034
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular constructthird person feminine singular
קָרָ֤אqā·rāis calledH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
קָרָ֤א (H7121, qārâ) — "to call, name." The naming is impersonal/passive ("its name is called"), but Keil & Delitzsch read it as given "according to divine direction" — a memorial "of the judgment of God which follows all the ungodly enterprises of the power of the world."
בָּבֶ֔לbā·ḇelBabelH894
√ Bâbel — Babel (iNounproperfeminine singular
בָּבֶ֔ל (H894, Bāḇel) — Babel/Babylon. The first of 233 occurrences; the city that begins as the archetype of human pride becomes, across Scripture, the standing name for the world-system in defiance of God — down to Revelation's "Babylon the great."
כִּי־kî-forH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
שָׁ֛םšāmthereH8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
יְהוָ֖הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
בָּלַ֥לbā·lalconfusedH1101
√ bâlal — to overflow (specifically with oilVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
בָּלַ֥ל (H1101, bālal) — "to confound." The etymological key. Cambridge cautions the derivation is "popular … rests on a resemblance of sound," not scientific philology — yet the text's own theology is carried precisely by that sound.
שְׂפַ֣תśə·p̄aṯthe languageH8193
√ sâphâh — the lip (as a natural boundary)Nounfeminine singular construct
כָּל־kāl-of the wholeH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָאָ֑רֶץhā·’ā·reṣworldH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
וּמִשָּׁם֙ū·miš·šāmand from that placeH8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenConjunctive waw, Preposition-mAdverb
יְהוָ֔הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
הֱפִיצָ֣םhĕ·p̄î·ṣāmscattered themH6327
√ pûwts — to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse)VerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural
הֱפִיצָ֣ם (H6327, pûṣ) — "He scattered them," Hiphil perfect. The book's first great dispersion. From this scattering of the nations the narrative narrows, in the very next verses (11:10ff), to one line — Shem to Abram — through whom the scattered families will one day be blessed (12:3).
עַל־‘al-overH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
פְּנֵ֖יpə·nêthe faceH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
כָּל־kāl-of allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָאָֽרֶץ׃פhā·’ā·reṣthe earthH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. One lip — the unity God did not bless — Genesis 11:1

The unit opens on a unity that sounds like Eden restored: "all the earth was one lip and words one." But the commentators refuse to romanticize it. Keil & Delitzsch render the Hebrew "one lip and one kind of words" (Latin unius labii eorundemque verborum) and trace the unity to "the unity of its descent from one human pair." Albert Barnes does the careful work the parses confirm: the verse names two things, not one. "Lip" (śāp̄āh) is "the form, that is, the manner, of speaking"; "words" (dāḇār) is "the matter, the substance, or material of language." The English "one language and a common form of speech" blurs what the Hebrew keeps distinct. ⚙ The point of the doubling, this synthesis suggests, is that the coming judgment will strike the form (the lip, v.7) while leaving much of the matter intact — which is exactly what comparative philology finds: shared roots across families whose grammars no longer agree. Whether the primitive tongue was Hebrew is left genuinely open: Gill and the Jewish tradition say yes, and Joseph Benson agrees ("that language was, probably, the Hebrew"); the Cambridge Bible rejects it — "The whole theory has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages." The text itself does not say.

ii. "Let us" — bricks, a tower, and a name — Genesis 11:2–4

Three times the builders cry hāḇāh, "Come" — "let us brick bricks," "let us build," "let us make us a name." The Hebrew is dense with sound-play the English drops: the Pulpit Commentary restores "let us brick bricks" (nilbənāh ləḇênîm) and "burn them to a burning" (wəniśrəp̄āh liśrēp̄āh), three alliterations "possibly designed by the writer to represent the enthusiasm of the builders." Keil & Delitzsch name the true engine of the project: not flood-fear (they would have built on a mountain), but šēm — "the desire for renown … to establish a noted central point, which might serve to maintain their unity." The Geneva Bible is blunt: "They were moved with pride and ambition, preferring their own glory to God's honour." And here the deepest irony surfaces — Keil & Delitzsch again: "the fact that they were afraid of dispersion is a proof that the inward spiritual bond of unity … was already broken by sin." ⚙ The tower is a splint on a unity already fractured; the brick is man's substitute stone (so Barnes: the writer who notes "brick for stone" belongs "to a country … in which stone buildings were familiar"), and the name they reach for is the name they cannot give themselves.

iii. God comes down — the descent that mocks the ascent — Genesis 11:5–7

Men pile bricks toward heaven; God must "come down" to see the tower. The expositors hear the deliberate sarcasm. Rabbi Schelomo, preserved in the Pulpit Commentary, sets it as antiphon: "Let us build up, say they, and scale the heavens. Let us go down, says God, and defeat their impious thought." Keil & Delitzsch mark God's "Come, let Us go down" as "an ironical imitation of the same expression" the builders used in vv.3–4. The descent is not ignorance — the Geneva Bible: "God's power is everywhere, and neither ascends nor descends" — but judicial procedure; Poole sees God "setting a pattern for judges to examine causes before they pass sentence." The verdict (v.6) is sober: JFB reads "nothing will be restrained from them" as "an apparent admission that the design was practicable." Unfettered human unity in sin is genuinely dangerous, and Barnes watches the seed grow — "all sin is dim and small in its first rise; but it swells … to the most glaring and gigantic proportions." The instrument of judgment is the lip itself: nāḇəlâ ("confound," v.7) is the very root that will spell the city's name.

iv. Babel — the name that means confusion — Genesis 11:8–9

The judgment lands on the builders' own dread. Matthew Poole: "they brought upon themselves the very thing they feared" — the scattering-root pûṣ ("lest we be scattered," v.4) returns as God's act (wayyāp̄eṣ, v.8; hĕp̄îṣām, v.9). The city is named for its undoing. Keil & Delitzsch derive Bāḇel from bālbēl from bālal, "to confuse … a standing memorial of the judgment of God which follows all the ungodly enterprises of the power of the world." Ellicott draws the sharpest blade: "Man calls his projected city Bab-el, the gate —that is, the court— of God; God calls it Babble." The Cambridge Bible honestly dissents on the philology — "Babel" is "very probably an Assyrian name meaning the 'Gate of God,'" and the Hebrew etymology "rests on a resemblance of sound" — but even Cambridge grants the text means the sound to preach. ⚙ This synthesis takes the wordplay as theology rather than lexicography: the narrator is not teaching etymology, he is teaching that the gate men built to God became the byword for the noise men make when God has stopped them. Barnes notes the literary hinge: here "the line of history leaves the universal, and by a rapid contraction narrows itself into the individual" — the very next verses run from the scattered nations down to one man, Abram, through whom the families will be blessed.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

This paragraph is the tool's own reading under Sola Scriptura — fallible, ⚙-marked, offered to be tested, not believed. Read Babel as the photographic negative of the call of Abram that follows it. At Babel men say "let us make us a name" (naʽăśeh-lānû šēm, v.4); in 12:2 God says to one man, "I will make your name great" (wa’ăgaddəlāh šəmeḵā). The grammar is the gospel in miniature: the name humanity grasps at, it loses (its monument becomes "confusion"); the name God gives, He keeps. Babel also inverts the creation cadence — there God said "let Us make" and it was good; here men say "let us make" and it is scattered; and God's answering "let Us go down" (v.7) is the same divine plural (1:26) turned from blessing to judgment. The whole chapter is the diagnosis for which the rest of Scripture is the cure: a humanity that cannot keep its own unity because it sought unity for its own glory, awaiting a day when the LORD would "turn to the peoples a pure lip" (Zephaniah 3:9) and pour out one Spirit so that every tongue might at last hear "the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:11). Babel is the wound; Pentecost is the dressing; the new Jerusalem is the healing.

⚙ A fallible line, not a verse of Scripture: at Babel man said "let us make us a name" and got confusion; to Abram, God said "I will make your name great" — the name you seize you lose, the name He gives you keep.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The plain of Shinar — cradle and grave of empire → Daniel 1:2 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The land where the nations first organized against God reappears at the moment Israel falls to the world-empire. In Daniel 1:2, Nebuchadnezzar carries the vessels of God's house "to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god." The Verifier records the shared lexeme H8152 Shinʻâr, a genuinely rare proper name occurring in only 8 verses of the whole Hebrew Bible. Because it is so rare and so specific, the recurrence is no coincidence: Babel's plain is the recurring stage of human power set against heaven, from the first tower to the last exile. The same name binds Genesis 11 to Genesis 14:1 (the war of kings), Isaiah 11:11 (the remnant gathered back), Joshua 7:21 (Achan's stolen "goodly Babylonish garment"), and Zechariah 5:11 (wickedness given "a house in the land of Shinar").

Genesis 11:2 · Daniel 1:2 · Zechariah 5:11 · Isaiah 11:11 · Genesis 14:1

basis: shared lexeme H8152 Shinʻâr (in only 8 vv) — a rare proper noun; the verbal recurrence is the recorded basis

Self-made bricks → Egypt's slave-bricks → Exodus 1:14; 5:7 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The bricks Babel makes for its own glory become, by the same Hebrew words, the bricks of Israel's bondage. In Exodus 1:14 the Egyptians made the Hebrews' lives bitter "in mortar and in brick" (H2563 ḥōmer, H3843 lᵉḇênâh); in Exodus 5:7 Pharaoh refuses straw "to make brick" (H3843 lᵉḇênâh, H3835 lāḇan). The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes lᵉḇênâh (11 vv) and ḥōmer (26 vv). ⚙ The synthesis reads the link as moral, not merely material: the brick humanity bakes "to make us a name" is the same brick that, in the next great empire, names its slavery. The tools of self-exaltation become the implements of oppression — and from that brick-pit God will redeem a people, as He scattered the builders of Shinar.

Genesis 11:3 · Exodus 1:14 · Exodus 5:7

basis: shared lexemes H3843 lᵉbênâh (11 vv), H3835 lâban (8 vv), H2563 chômer (26 vv) — distinctive building vocabulary linking Babel and Egypt

The bitumen of the ark and of Babel → Exodus 2:3; Genesis 14:10 verbal / quotation — confirmed

One rare word, ḥēmār (bitumen, H2564), occurs in only three verses of the Hebrew Bible — and Genesis 11:3 is one of them. The other two are Genesis 14:10 (the tar-pits into which the kings of Sodom fall) and Exodus 2:3, where the infant Moses is sealed in a basket daubed "with slime and with pitch." The Verifier confirms H2564 chêmâr as the shared lexeme. ⚙ The same substance preserves the deliverer of Israel and cements the monument of pride: bitumen seals Moses against the Nile, and it seals the bricks of Babel against the sky. The material is morally neutral; the building's intent is everything. (The waterproofing of Noah's ark in 6:14 uses a different word, kōp̄er — a distinction the Cambridge Bible reads as a fingerprint of the story's Israelite origin.)

Genesis 11:3 · Exodus 2:3 · Genesis 14:10

basis: shared lexeme H2564 chêmâr (in only 3 vv of the whole Hebrew Bible) — a rare word; the verbal link is the recorded basis

"Let us make us a name" → "I will make your name great" (Genesis 12:2) structural / thematic — confirmed

The hinge of the whole primeval history. At Babel men resolve, "let us make us a name" (šēm, H8034) lest they be scattered — and they are scattered. In the very next chapter God says to Abram, "I will make your name great" (H8034) — and through him "all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The Verifier records the shared lexeme H8034 šēm; because the word is common (771 vv), the link is structural/thematic, not a rare quotation — but the deliberate juxtaposition across the chapter seam is unmistakable. ⚙ The synthesis hears the gospel grammar here: the name humanity seizes for itself it loses; the name God gives to the man of faith He establishes forever. Self-naming scatters; God-naming blesses.

Genesis 11:4 · Genesis 12:2

basis: shared lexeme H8034 shêm (771 vv) — common, so thematic not verbal; basis is the deliberate name/name reversal across the 11→12 seam

Babel reappears — from first tower to last city → Genesis 10:10 structural / thematic — confirmed

The name given as a verdict in 11:9 is the same Babel that opens Nimrod's kingdom in 10:10 ("the beginning of his kingdom was Babel"). The Verifier records the shared lexeme H894 Bāḇel. Because the name is frequent across Scripture (233 vv), the link is structural rather than a rare verbal quotation — but it is the structural backbone of the Bible's theology of empire. The city named "confusion" here becomes the archetype of the God-defying world-system that recurs from Nimrod through Nebuchadnezzar to the "Babylon the great" of Revelation. Barnes marks the literary turn at this very point: "the line of history leaves the universal, and by a rapid contraction narrows itself into the individual" — from scattered Babel to chosen Abram.

Genesis 11:9 · Genesis 10:10

basis: shared lexeme H894 Bâbel (233 vv) — common name, so structural; basis is the canonical motif of Babel/Babylon as the world-empire against God

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Pentecost undoes Babel — tongues divided, tongues given ancient/widely-held

The oldest and most widely-held reading of Babel sees its reversal at Pentecost. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown state it verbatim on v.7: "By one miracle of tongues men were dispersed and gradually fell from true religion. By another, national barriers were broken down—that all men might be brought back to the family of God." Keil & Delitzsch develop the same type at length: the primitive language is "buried in the materials of the languages of the nations, to rise again one day to eternal life in the glorified form of the καιναὶ γλῶσσαι intelligible to all the redeemed," for "A type of pledge of this hope was given in the gift of tongues on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church on the first Christian day of Pentecost," when "the people of every nation under heaven understood in their own language (Acts 2:1-11)." The witness is broader still: Joseph Benson draws the identical antithesis — "As the confounding of tongues divided the children of men, and scattered them abroad, so the gift of tongues bestowed upon the apostles, Acts 2., contributed greatly to the gathering together of the children of God which were scattered abroad, and the uniting of them in Christ, that with one mind and mouth they might glorify God, Romans 15:6." ⚙ This is a cross-Testament link (Hebrew Genesis ↔ Greek Acts): there is no shared Strong's lexeme, so the Verifier correctly returns flagged — verify source for any direct word-link. The connection is therefore typological, argued from pattern and not from vocabulary — but it is no novelty; it is the consensus of the Fathers and the Reformers and is sounded by three independent commentators of this very unit (JFB, K&D, Benson). At Babel God came down to divide one lip into many; at Pentecost the Spirit came down to make many tongues confess one Lord.

Genesis 11:7 · Genesis 11:9 · Acts 2:1-11

The Name not seized but given — Babel and the exalted Christ novel

Babel's defining sin is the grasp for a name: "let us make us a name" (v.4). Scripture answers the grasp with a gift. To Abram God gives a great name (12:2); and to the Son who "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped" but "humbled himself," God "highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue confess" (Philippians 2:6–11). ⚙ The contrast is structural and christological, not verbal — a Greek text with no shared Hebrew lexeme — so it is offered as figural reading, to be tested. The builders ascend to seize a name and are scattered, their tongues divided; Christ descends (as the LORD "came down," v.5), is humbled, and is given the Name before which every divided tongue is at last reunited in one confession. Where Babel's "every tongue" could not understand its neighbor, the gospel's "every tongue" speaks one Lord. The motif of self-exaltation judged and humility exalted (cf. Babel's "head in the heavens" brought low) is ancient; reading Philippians 2 specifically as Babel's antitype is the more novel turn taken here.

Genesis 11:4 · Genesis 11:5 · Philippians 2:6-11

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Several seams in this unit are left open on purpose. (1) The direction of migration (v.2): miqqeḏem can be rendered "from the east" (most versions, Geneva: "from Armenia where the ark stayed"), "eastward" (Barnes, by Genesis 13:11), or "in the east" (Cambridge). The commentators genuinely disagree; this synthesis names the options and does not force one. (2) The primitive language: the Jewish tradition, Gill, JFB, and Benson ("that language was, probably, the Hebrew") hold it was Hebrew; the Cambridge Bible says "The whole theory has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages" — the disagreement is recorded, not resolved, and the text itself makes no claim. (3) The etymology of Babel (v.9): the narrative derives the name from bālal ("confound"); Cambridge and modern Assyriology hold the real derivation is Bab-ilu, "Gate of God." Both are shown. This synthesis treats the Hebrew sound-play as the narrator's theology (the gate to God became the byword for babble) rather than as a scientific etymology — a deliberate interpretive choice, flagged as such. (4) Source-critical claims: Cambridge's assertion that vv.1–9 derive from "an independent tradition" is one scholar's view and is reproduced as a voice, not endorsed. (5) Cross-Testament threads: the Pentecost (Acts 2) and Philippians 2 readings carry no shared original-language lexeme and the Verifier flags any direct word-link; they are tiered typological/structural and argued from pattern, never asserted as verbal quotation. The Pentecost type is ancient and widely-held — three independent commentators in this unit alone (JFB, K&D, Benson) draw it — while the Philippians-2 application is the more novel of the two and is marked accordingly. (6) Gill's allegory of v.9 (the builders as self-righteous works-religion) is his interpretation, offered as a voice and not as the plain sense of the Hebrew.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)