GEN 11:1 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Καὶ ἦν πᾶσα ἡ γῆ χεῖλος ἓν, καὶ φωνὴ μία πᾶσι.
(Kai aʸn pasa haʸ gaʸ ⱪeilos hen, kai fōnaʸ mia pasi. )

ULT Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

UST Now at first, all the people on the earth spoke the same language, so that everyone understood each other.

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

MSB (Same as BSB above)

OEB All the inhabitants of the earth had one language and vocabulary;

WEBBE The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary.

LSV And the whole earth is of one language, and of the same words,

FBV At that time the whole world spoke just one language and used words with the same meaning.

T4T At first, all the people in [MTY] the world spoke the same language [DOU].

LEB Now[fn] the whole earth had one language and the same words.

11:1 Or “And”

BBE And all the earth had one language and one tongue.

Moff No Moff GEN book available

JPS And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

ASV And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

DRA And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

YLT And the whole earth is of one pronunciation, and of the same words,

Drby And the whole earth had one language, and the same words.

RV And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

SLT And all the earth shall be one lip, and the same words.

Wbstr And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

KJB-1769 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.[fn][fn]

11.1 language: Heb. lip.

11.1 speech: Heb. words

KJB-1611 ¶ And the whole earth was of one [fn]language, and of one [fn]speach.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

11:1 Hebr. lippe.

11:1 Heb. words.

Bshps And all the whole earth was of one language and lyke speache.
(And all the whole earth was of one language and like speech.)

Gnva Then the whole earth was of one language and one speache.
(Then the whole earth was of one language and one speech. )

Cvdl Morouer all the worlde had one tonge & language.
(Moreover/What’s_more all the world had one tongue and language.)

Wycl Forsothe the lond was of o langage, and of the same speche.
(For_certain/Truly the land was of o language, and of the same speech.)

Luth Es hatte aber alle Welt einerlei Zunge und Sprache.
(It had but all world no_matter tongue and language.)

ClVg Erat autem terra labii unius, et sermonum eorumdem.[fn]
(It_was however earth/land labii of_one, and of_speeches theirdem. )

11.1 Erat autem terra labii unius, etc. AUG., in Gen. Dictum est superius quod filii Nœ, vel filiorum ejus, distributi sunt per terras secundum linguas suas. Sed hoc per recapitulationem postea commemorat quod prius erat. Sed obscuritatem facit, quod eo genere locutionis ita contexit, quasi de his narratio quæ postea facta sunt consequatur.

11.1 It_was however earth/land labii of_one, etc. AUG., in/into/on Gen. Saytum it_is above that children Nœ, or of_children his, distributi are through lands after/second tongue/languages their_own. But this through recapitulationem afterwards recalls that first/before was. But obscuritatem he_does, that by_him in_general of_speech so/thus contexit, as_if from/about his tellsio which afterwards facts are follow.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-time-background

וַֽ⁠יְהִ֥י כָל־הָ⁠אָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת

and=he/it_was all the=earth/land language one

The events in chapter 11:1-9 happened before the people listed in chapter 10 had their own languages and before they spread out over the earth (Genesis [10:5](../10/5.md), [10:19-20](../10/19.md), and [10:30-32](../10/30.md)). You could include some of that information in a footnote. Alternate translation: [Now at first, everyone on the earth shared the same language] or [Now for a while, all the people on the earth spoke one language]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

וּ⁠דְבָרִ֖ים אֲחָדִֽים

and=words/messages same

The phrases one language and the same words are very similar in meaning and emphasize the fact that everyone spoke the same language. Consider what is the best way to communicate that in your language. Alternate translation: [and shared the same vocabulary] or [and spoke words everyone knew]

Parallel GEN 11:1