Genesis 11:9

Summary

Genesis 11:9 explains the name Bavel ("Babel", H0894) as etymologically connected to the confusion of language that Yehovah brought about there. The verse states that because Yehovah confused the speech of "all the earth" at that location, he subsequently scattered the people from there over the face of the whole earth.

Key words

• ba.Lal ("he confused", H1101A) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular: a completed action attributed to Yehovah, describing the confusing of language.
• se.Fat ("the language of", H8193K) — feminine singular construct noun, linking to kol-ha'aretz ("all the earth") to form "the language/lip of all the earth."
• he.fi.Tza ("he scattered", H6327A) — hiphil (causative) perfect, third person masculine singular: Yehovah is the causal agent who actively disperses the people, distinct from the simple qal used for "confused."
• sham ("there", H8033G) and mi.Sham ("from there", combining H9006 "from" + H8033G "there") — adverbs of place marking the location where the confusion happened and the point of origin for the scattering.
• ka.Ra' ("someone called", H7121H) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, impersonal/passive-like usage in context, introducing the naming formula "therefore its name was called."

What the text says

The verse divides into two parallel clauses, each anchored by a perfect verb describing a completed divine action: ba.Lal ("he confused", H1101A) and he.fi.Tza ("he scattered", H6327A). The first clause states that Yehovah confused se.Fat kol-ha'aretz ("the language of all the earth", H8193K + H3605 + H0776G), using a construct chain that treats "language" as belonging to "all the earth" as a single collective unit. The second clause shifts verb stem to the hiphil form he.fi.Tza, marking a causative action — Yehovah does not merely disperse himself but causes "them" (the pronominal suffix -m, H9038) to be scattered.

The adverbs sham ("there", H8033G) and its compound mi-sham ("from there") create a spatial frame: the confusion happens "there," and the scattering originates "from there," extending outward 'al-pe.Nei kol-ha'aretz ("over the surface of all the earth", H6440J + H3605 + H0776G). The repetition of kol-ha'aretz in both halves of the verse (once with "language," once with "surface") ties the linguistic confusion and the geographic dispersion together through parallel construct phrases.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the place name as Σύγχυσις ("Confusion") where the Hebrew has Bavel (H0894), rendering the name as a transliteration into meaning rather than transliterating the actual toponym. The Vulgate retains the name "Babel" but says the population's labium ("lip/speech") was confused, following the Hebrew se.Fat ("language of", H8193K) more literally as an anatomical/linguistic term. The LXX and Vulgate both add "God" or "Lord God" (κύριος ὁ θεός in LXX) alongside "Yehovah/Lord" in the second clause, where the Hebrew text names only Yehovah (H3068G) without an additional divine title.