Bible Strands
Genesis 11:9
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
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Study note
Setting — The narrator explains the origin of the city’s name immediately after Yahweh halts the construction project and disperses the people. This statement occurs at the narrative pivot between the nation catalog in Genesis 10 and the genealogy of Shem in Genesis 11.
The words — The text links the name Babel to the Hebrew root בָּלַל (ba.Lal), meaning "he confused," and uses קָרָא (ka.Ra'), "he called," to describe the naming act. The causal particles כֵּן (ken) and כִּי (ki) explicitly tie the naming to the preceding divine intervention.
The thread — The linguistic and geographic fragmentation recurs in the ethnographic summaries of Genesis 10:5 and 10:20, which organize peoples by clans, languages, and lands. The earlier reference to Babylon in the Shinar region (Genesis 10:10) anchors this event within the broader territorial divisions of the Table of Nations.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to accept that human centralized ambition is abruptly terminated by sovereign action, producing irreversible geographic and linguistic division. It asks for a straightforward recognition of the text’s claim that scattering was a completed historical reality, not a symbolic illustration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Cross-references
- Genesis 10:5 From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
- Genesis 10:10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
- Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
- Acts 17:26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
- 1 Corinthians 14:23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?
- Genesis 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.
- Jeremiah 50:1 This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:
- Genesis 10:31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
- Isaiah 13:1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: