Genesis 11:7
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →God decides to confuse their language so they cannot understand each other's speech.
Context
In response to this assessment, God announces the decision to disrupt human unity: 'Let us go down, and there confound their language.' The plural 'us' (found in traditional texts) reflects divine deliberation and decision-making. The confounding of language is the direct solution to unlimited unity: create division through inability to communicate.
What Does Genesis 11:7 Mean?
In response to this assessment, God announces the decision to disrupt human unity: 'Let us go down, and there confound their language.' The plural 'us' (found in traditional texts) reflects divine deliberation and decision-making. The confounding of language is the direct solution to unlimited unity: create division through inability to communicate.
This act is not destruction but interruption. The result will be that workers cannot understand one another's speech, making coordinated effort impossible. This single intervention—corrupting the common language—effectively dissolves the conditions that made their unified ambition possible.
In the Original Language
balal (בָּלַל), 'confound'—to mix, jumble, confuse together, disrupting coherent order.