One language and the same words
Says וַיְהִי כָל־הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים reads word for word “and all the earth was one lip and words, ones.” כָל־הָאָרֶץ (khol-ha’arets, “all the earth”) stands for its people; BSB has “the whole world.” שָׂפָה אֶחָת (safah ’ekhat, “one lip”) means one language. וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים (udevarim ’akhadim) pairs “words” with the plural of “one”; BSB has “a common form of speech.”
Says Safah is the word for language through 11:1–9 (11:6, 7, 9). Chapter 10 used another word, lashon, as in אִישׁ לִלְשֹׁנוֹ (“each by his language,” 10:5).
Uncertain The pair may mean one language with one vocabulary, the same words and speech, or only a few words; the plural of “one” elsewhere can mean “a few.” The first two read the pair as stressing unity, while “few words” reads a small vocabulary, which the context does not otherwise mark. How 11:1 sits with the “languages” of chapter 10 depends on whether 11:1–9 comes before the spread of the nations in time or explains it as a flashback. No lean is taken here.
Claims
- Saysוַיְהִי כָל־הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים reads word for word “and all the earth was one lip and words, ones.” כָל־הָאָרֶץ (khol-ha’arets, “all the earth”) stands for its people; BSB has “the whole world.” שָׂפָה אֶחָת (safah ’ekhat, “one lip”) means one language. וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים (udevarim ’akhadim) pairs “words” with the plural of “one”; BSB has “a common form of speech.”
- SaysSafah is the word for language through 11:1–9 (11:6, 7, 9). Chapter 10 used another word, lashon, as in אִישׁ לִלְשֹׁנוֹ (“each by his language,” 10:5).
- UncertainThe pair may mean one language with one vocabulary, the same words and speech, or only a few words; the plural of “one” elsewhere can mean “a few.” The first two read the pair as stressing unity, while “few words” reads a small vocabulary, which the context does not otherwise mark. How 11:1 sits with the “languages” of chapter 10 depends on whether 11:1–9 comes before the spread of the nations in time or explains it as a flashback. No lean is taken here.
Citations
- OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 11:1 (WLC/OSHB; morph HNcfsa HC/Ncmpa HAcmpa)
- BSB public domain Gen 11:1 (BSB)
2026-11-12
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