Genesis 11:6

11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹  they have begun to do this, then ²  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ³ 

Genesis 11:9

11:9 That is why its name was called ⁴  Babel ⁵  – 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.

Genesis 22:17

22:17 I will indeed bless you, ⁶  and I will greatly multiply ⁷  your descendants ⁸  so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession ⁹  of the strongholds ¹⁰  of their enemies.

[11:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ² tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ³ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”

[11:9]  ⁴ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.

[11:9]  ⁵ 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).

[22:17]  ⁷ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.

[22:17]  ⁸ tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).

[22:17]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[22:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “inherit.”

[22:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).