Genesis 10:10

10:10 The primary regions ¹  of his kingdom were Babel, ²  Erech, ³  Akkad, ⁴  and Calneh ⁵  in the land of Shinar. ⁶ 

Genesis 11:9

11:9 That is why its name was called ⁷  Babel ⁸  – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

[10:10]  ¹ tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.

[10:10]  ² tn Or “Babylon.”

[10:10]  ³ sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.

[10:10]  ⁴ sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.

[10:10]  ⁵ tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).

[10:10]  ⁶ sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.

[11:9]  ⁷ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.

[11:9]  ⁸ sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).