Places of the Bible

Babel

Shinar (southern Mesopotamia) · Old Testament · 2 verses

Babel was a city in the plain of Shinar where people built a tower to reach the heavens. The name is connected in Genesis with the confusing of human language. The name appears in Genesis in the King James text.

About Babel

Babel was a city in the plain of Shinar where people built a tower to reach the heavens. The name is connected in Genesis with the confusing of human language.

Its place in the story

At Babel God confused the one language of humanity and scattered the people over the earth. The account explains the origin of many languages and nations, and it stands as a picture of human pride reaching up in defiance of God.

Babel in Scripture (KJV)

“And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”

Genesis 10:10 (KJV)

“Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

Genesis 11:9 (KJV)

Where it leads

The scattering at Babel sets the stage for God's plan to bless all the scattered nations, a promise that runs through the whole Old Testament toward Christ, in whom people of every tongue are gathered.

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Scripture verbatim KJV. Place facts curated; any coordinates via Wikidata (CC0).