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Gen Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50
Gen 11 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32
Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. 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=normal (All still tentative.)
OET (OET-RV) Come on then, let’s go down and confuse their language so that they won’t be able to understand each other’s words.”
OET-LV Come_now let_us_go_down and_let_us_confuse there their_language that not they_will_hear each the_language his/its_neighbour.
UHB הָ֚בָה נֵֽרְדָ֔ה וְנָבְלָ֥ה שָׁ֖ם שְׂפָתָ֑ם אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א יִשְׁמְע֔וּ אִ֖ישׁ שְׂפַ֥ת רֵעֵֽהוּ׃ ‡
(hāⱱāh nērədāh vənāⱱəlāh shām səfātām ʼₐsher loʼ yishməˊū ʼiysh səfat rēˊēhū.)
Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative.
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 Δεῦτε, καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν ἐκεῖ τὴν γλῶσσαν, ἵνα μὴ ἀκούσωσιν ἕκαστος τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ πλησίον.
(Deute, kai katabantes sugⱪeōmen autōn ekei taʸn glōssan, hina maʸ akousōsin hekastos taʸn fōnaʸn tou plaʸsion. )
BrTr Come, and having gone down let us there confound their tongue, that they may not understand each the voice of his neighbour.
ULT Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand each other’s language.”
UST So we must go down there now and mix up their language so that they are not able to understand what they say to each other.”
BSB Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
OEB Come, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that they do not understand each other’s speech.’
WEBBE Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
WMBB (Same as above)
NET Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”
LSV Give help, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that a man will not understand the language of his companion.”
FBV We need to go down and mix up their language and make it confused so they won't be able to understand what they're saying to one other.”
T4T So, okay/now, we will go down there and cause there to be many different languages, so that they will not be able to understand each other.”
LEB Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand each other’s language.”[fn]
11:7 Literally “each the language of his companion”
BBE Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
Moff No Moff GEN book available
JPS Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.'
ASV Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
DRA Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
YLT Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.'
Drby Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
RV Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Wbstr Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
KJB-1769 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
KJB-1611 Goe to, let vs go downe, and there cōfound their language, that they may not vnderstand one anothers speech.
(Go to, let us go down, and there cōfound their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech.)
Bshps Come on, let vs go downe, and there confounde their language, that euerye one perceaue not his neighbours speache.
(Come on, let us go down, and there confounde their language, that everye one perceaue not his neighbours speeche.)
Gnva Come on, let vs goe downe, and there confound their language, that euery one perceiue not anothers speache.
(Come on, let us go down, and there confound their language, that every one perceive not anothers speeche. )
Cvdl Come on, let vs go downe, & cofounde their tonge eue there, yt one vnderstonde not what another saieth.
(Come on, let us go down, and cofounde their tongue eue there, it one understood not what another saieth.)
Wyc and scheende we there the tunge of hem, that ech man here not the voys of his neiybore.
(and scheende we there the tunge of them, that each man here not the voys of his neighbour.)
Luth Wohlauf, laßt uns herniederfahren und ihre Sprache daselbst verwirren, daß keiner des andern Sprache vernehme.
(Wohlauf, laßt us/to_us/ourselves herniederfahren and their/her Sprache there verwirren, that keiner the change Sprache vernehme.)
ClVg Venite igitur, descendamus, et confundamus ibi linguam eorum, ut non audiat unusquisque vocem proximi sui.[fn]
(Come igitur, descendamus, and confundamus there linguam their, as not/no audiat unusquisque vocem proximi sui. )
11.7 Venite igitur, etc. Ad angelos dixisse intelligitur; vel secundum illud: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram. Nam singulari numero subjunctum est: et divisit eos, etc., sicut ibi: Fecit Deus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam. GREG. Moral. lib. 2, c. 5 Venite, etc. Dicitur his qui Deo adhærent, Venite, quia a divina contemplatione nunquam decrescere, sed semper accrescere, et nunquam corde recedere, stabili motu est semper venire. Ascendunt angeli Creatorem conspiciendo, descendunt creaturam illicite se erigentem examine districtionis premendo. Dicere ergo, Descendamus, et confundamus linguam eorum, est in semetipso quod recte agatur ostendere, et per vim internæ visionis eorum mentibus exhibenda judicia occultis motibus inspirare.
11.7 Come igitur, etc. Ad angelos dixisse intelligitur; or after/second illud: Faciamus hominem to imaginem and similitudinem nostram. Nam singulari number subyunctum it_is: and divided them, etc., like ibi: Fecit God hominem to imaginem and similitudinem suam. GREG. Moral. lib. 2, c. 5 Come, etc. Dicitur his who Deo adhærent, Come, because from divina contemplatione nunquam decrescere, but always accrescere, and nunquam corde recedere, stabili motu it_is always venire. Ascendunt angeli Creatorem conspiciendo, descendunt creaturam illicite se erigentem examine districtionis premendo. Dicere therefore, Descendamus, and confundamus linguam their, it_is in semetipso that recte agatur ostendere, and through vim internæ visionis their mentibus exhibenda yudicia occultis motibus inspirare.
11:7 Come, let’s go down: God addresses his angelic court (see 1:26; 3:22; and study notes).
• won’t be able to understand each other: Their inability to communicate would curtail their unified sinful ambition. The God-honoring unity of language on the day of Pentecost was a symbolic reversal of the Babel dispersion (Acts 2:5-13; see Zeph 3:9).
Babel: The Dispersion of Nations
The story of the tower of Babel, whose peak was to reach to heaven, explains how nations and ethnic groups were separated by language barriers and scattered geographically. After the Flood, when God had judged an exceedingly wicked human race, humans again rebelled against their Creator by constructing a tower “that reaches into the sky” (Gen 11:4). Instead of worshiping the Lord, their intention was to exalt themselves and unify themselves apart from the Lord. God saw the danger that this posed: Their independence and arrogance would set them right back into a whirlpool of wickedness and, ultimately, destruction. So God intervened to “confuse the people with different languages” (11:7) and “[scatter] them all over the world” (11:9). Babel thus begins the history of differences and misunderstandings between peoples and nations who cannot understand one another’s languages and cultures—a separation that only begins to be reversed with the coming of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2).
After the dispersion of the nations at Babel, God renewed his relationship with humanity in Abraham and his descendants (Gen 12:1-9). In contrast with the people at Babel, Abraham was righteous because he “believed the Lord” and lived by faith in God rather than pride in his accomplishments (15:6; 17:1; 18:19; 26:5).
Passages for Further Study
הָ֚בָה
come=now!
Alternate translation: “So come on,”
נֵֽרְדָ֔ה & שָׁ֖ם
let_us_descend & there
Most Bible scholars think the plural pronoun us refers here to God and the fact that he is three Persons in one God. So it is best to keep this plural pronoun in your translation. See what you did for similar pronouns in Gen 1:26. Alternate translation: “let us go to them”
וְנָבְלָ֥ה & שְׂפָתָ֑ם
and=let_us_confuse & their=language
Alternate translation: “and scramble their language”
אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א יִשְׁמְע֔וּ
which/who not they_will_understand
Alternate translation: “so that they will not be able to understand” or “so that they cannot understand”