Genesis 11:7

Hebrew Bible

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. 6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other. 8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why its name was called Babel—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.

Numbers 11:17

Hebrew Bible

15 But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.” 16 The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you. 17 Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take part of the Spirit that is on you, and will put it on them, and they will bear some of the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it all by yourself. 18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. 19 You will eat, not just one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

 Notes and References

"... In verse 6 the reason for YHWH’s intended confusion of the “one lip” in verse 7 is given. In verse 7 God plans his action as saboteur. With a short soliloquy in the first-person plural (recalling Genesis 2–3, Genesis 6:5–7, Genesis 18:20–21 and even Exodus 3:7–8) ... The connection between the latter two texts has also been observed ... The word דרי with YHWH as subject and first-person plural is only attested in Genesis 11:7; דרי in the first-person singular with YHWH as subject is also very rare: besides Genesis 18:21, in order to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah, it is only attested in Exodus 3:8, to save Israel, and in Numbers 11:17, to support Moses ... God exhorts himself to descend and to confuse the “lip” of the people, in order to destroy their ideal, unanimous, primordial inter-human communication. The divine speech in verse 7 forms a parallel with the people’s speech in verses 3–4 ..."

Berlejung, Angelika "Living in the Land of Shinar: Reflections on Exile in Genesis 11:1–9" in Dubovský, Peter, et al. (eds.) The Fall of Jerusalem and the Rise of the Torah (pp. 89-112) Mohr Siebeck, 2016

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