The Meaning of Genesis 11:7 Explained

Genesis 11:7

KJV: Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, 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.'

Darby: 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Go to,  let us go down,  and there confound  their language,  that  they may not understand  one  another's  speech. 

What does Genesis 11:7 Mean?

Verse Meaning

God"s soliloquy in this verse mimics the language of the tower builders in Genesis 11:3-4 (cf. Genesis 1:26). The tower was so puny that He had to come down to see it (cf. Isaiah 40:22). The confusion of language probably involved more than just the introduction of new words.
"If language is the audible expression of emotions, conceptions, and thoughts of the mind, the cause of the confusion or division of the one human language into different national dialects might be sought in an effect produced upon the human mind, by which the original unity of emotion, conception, thought, and will was broken up. This inward unity had no doubt been already disturbed by sin, but the disturbance had not yet amounted to a perfect breach." [1]
Some scholars believe that this judgment also involved the implantation of ethnic and racial distinctions in humankind. The Table of Nations in chapter10 may imply this. [2]

Context Summary

Genesis 11:1-9 - The Confusion Of Tongues
Driven by the fear of another deluge, though God had given distinct assurances to the contrary, and impelled by the desire to perpetuate their name and memory to coming generations, Noah's descendants began to build on the plain of Shinar-a fertile valley watered by the Euphrates and Tigris. Babel, Babylon and Babylon the Great, such is the lineage of the apostasy which has ever opposed the Church of God; like a shadow, stealing along the wall at our side. To Babel we must oppose Abraham; to Babylon, Jerusalem; to Babylon the Great, the Bride, the Lamb's wife. "Come out of her, my people," is the cry that rings down the ages. God comes down to see! From him no secrets are hid. All things are naked and open to His eyes. The one language or lip refers to the pronunciation; speech to the stock of words; God touched the lips. When disunion prevails, destruction follows. But Pentecost and Heaven will undo the wreck of Babel. See Revelation 7:9. [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 11

1  One language in the world
2  The building of Babel
5  It is interrupted by the confusion of tongues, and the builders dispersed
10  The generations of Shem
27  The generations of Terah, the father of Abram
31  Terah, with Abram and Lot, move from Ur to Haran

What do the individual words in Genesis 11:7 mean?

Come let Us go down and confuse there their language that not may understand one man the speech of another
הָ֚בָה נֵֽרְדָ֔ה וְנָבְלָ֥ה שָׁ֖ם שְׂפָתָ֑ם אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א יִשְׁמְע֔וּ אִ֖ישׁ שְׂפַ֥ת רֵעֵֽהוּ

הָ֚בָה  Come 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine singular, third person feminine singular
Root: הַב 
Sense: to give, provide, ascribe, come.
נֵֽרְדָ֔ה  let  Us  go  down 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect Cohortative, first person common plural
Root: יָרַד  
Sense: to go down, descend, decline, march down, sink down.
וְנָבְלָ֥ה  and  confuse 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative, first person common plural
Root: בָּלַל 
Sense: to mix, mingle, confuse, confound.
שְׂפָתָ֑ם  their  language 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: שָׂפָה  
Sense: lip, language, speech, shore, bank, brink, brim, side, edge, border, binding.
אֲשֶׁר֙  that 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
יִשְׁמְע֔וּ  may  understand 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַע 
Sense: to hear, listen to, obey.
אִ֖ישׁ  one  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱנׄושׁ 
Sense: man, mortal man, person, mankind.
שְׂפַ֥ת  the  speech 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: שָׂפָה  
Sense: lip, language, speech, shore, bank, brink, brim, side, edge, border, binding.
רֵעֵֽהוּ  of  another 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: רֵעַ  
Sense: friend, companion, fellow, another person.