Texts in Conversation
The Greek Septuagint version of Genesis uses a specific verb for God confusing the languages of everyone at Babel. Acts uses the same verb of the crowd at Pentecost, who are confused because each one hears the disciples in his own language.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Genesis 11:7
Septuagint
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Look, one race and one lip of all, and this they have begun to do, and nothing that they undertake to do will now be wanting from them. 7 Come, and let us go down, and confuse their tongue there so that they will not hear, each one the speech of the next.” 8 And the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city and the tower. 9 Therefore its name was called Confusion, because there the Lord confused the lips of all the earth, and from there the Lord God scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Acts 2:6
New Testament
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language?
Tags:
Search:
Notes and References
“... The two words in bold are crucial for understanding the underlying Old Testament significance of Acts 2 and the events of Pentecost. The Greek word syncheō, translated “bewildered,” is used in the Septuagint version of the Tower of Babel story in Gen 11:7: “Come, and let us go down there to confound [syncheō] their language” (LES). Both Acts 2:6 and the Septuagint version of Genesis 11:7 link syncheō with confusion over human speech. In Genesis 11, of course, the context is the division of the nations (and their languages) at Babel. [...] These two terms are likely allusions to the story of Babel, so Luke is drawing on the Septuagint of Gen 11 and Deut 32 to connect the events of Acts 2 with the imagery of Babel and the Table of Nations. In Acts 2, Jews from around the known world were present in Jerusalem on Pentecost; many of them heard the good news in their native languages ... ”
Heiser, Michael S.
The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms
(p. 136) Lexham Press, 2017
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.