Origins
Old TestamentTower of Babel
Language and ambition
A short, dense account of a tower, a scattering and the origin of the world's languages.
Reading plan
How the story unfolds
- 1
One language
A migrating people settle in Shinar and begin to build.
- 2
A tower to the heavens
The project is framed as a bid for a name.
- 3
Scattered
Language is confused and the builders disperse.
Context & interpretation
Historical context
Mesopotamian ziggurats are the architectural background to the tower image.
Scriptured labels editorial context separately from Scripture, and never presents interpretation as consensus.