Genesis 11:7

Summary

The verse records speech (attributed to YHWH in the surrounding narrative) proposing action: "give/come," "let us go down," and "let us confuse" the language spoken there, so that people will no longer understand each other's speech. The final clause expresses the purpose using a reciprocal expression, "a man" and "his neighbor."

Key words

• Ha.va ("give", H3051) — qal imperative, 2nd person masculine, functioning here as a summons ("come/come now") that introduces the cohortative actions that follow.
• ne.re.Dah ("let us go down", H3381) — qal form glossed with "to do/in doing" (infinitive-type function), carrying a first-person plural "let us" sense within the sentence.
• na.ve.Lah ("let us confuse", H1101A) — qal form parallel to the previous word, joined by ve ("and", H9002), expressing the second proposed action.
• se.fa.Ta + m ("their language", H8193K + H9028) — feminine singular noun in construct form with a 3rd person masculine plural suffix, meaning literally "the lip/language of them."
• 'ish ... re.'E. + hu ("each ... his neighbor", H0376I + H7453 + H9023) — a masculine singular noun paired with a construct noun plus suffix, forming a distributive/reciprocal phrase ("a man ... his companion/neighbor").

What the text says

The verse opens with the imperative Ha.va ("give", H3051), carrying a paragogic he (H9012) that adds emphasis or urgency — a summoning particle rather than a literal command to "give" something. This is followed by two verbs, ne.re.Dah ("let us go down", H3381) and na.ve.Lah ("let us confuse", H1101A), linked by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002). Both are marked in the data as infinitive-type forms but function with a first-person plural "let us" sense, presenting a sequence of proposed actions: going down and confusing.

The object of the confusing action is se.fa.Ta.m ("their language", H8193K + H9028), literally "their lip," a common Biblical Hebrew idiom for language or speech, marked as a construct noun with a 3rd person plural suffix indicating possession ("belonging to them"). The adverb sham ("there", H8033G) locates the action.

The purpose clause is introduced by the relative particle 'asher ("that", H0834A) plus the negation lo' ("not", H3808) and the imperfect verb yish.me.'u ("they will hear/understand", H8085J), expressing an ongoing or future incapacity. This is followed by the distributive construction 'ish ("each", H0376I) ... se.fat re.'ehu ("the language of his neighbor", H8193H construct + H7453 + H9023 suffix), a common Hebrew idiom expressing reciprocity — "each one" in relation to "his companion."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sequence with δεῦτε ("come") and καταβάντες ("having gone down") as a participial construction rather than paired independent verbs, and translates sefatam ("their language") as τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν. The Vulgate preserves the double cohortative structure with "descendamus, et confundamus" ("let us go down, and let us confuse"), closely mirroring the Hebrew's two parallel verbs. Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) render the purpose clause variably as "understand," "entender," reflecting the semantic range of yish.me.'u ("they will hear", H8085J), which literally denotes hearing but is understood contextually as comprehension.