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Chapter 11

Genesis 11:9

RBT Translation:
Upon an upright he has called-out her name Babel, for there has Yahweh overflowed the edge of the whole of the Earth, and from there has Yahweh dashed-them-in-pieces upon the faces of the whole of the Earth.438
LITV Translation:
On account of this its name is called Babel, because Jehovah confused the language of all the earth there. And Jehovah scattered them abroad from there on the face of all the earth.
ESV Translation:
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Brenton Septuagint Translation:
On this account its name was called Confusion, because there the Lord confounded the languages of all the earth, and thence the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth.

Footnotes

438

From there Yahweh is dispersing…from there Yahweh has dispersed. The repetition of this point, one in the incomplete form and the last in the complete, would tell us that the dispersion began there and continues to the end when it is complete. It has been an ongoing dispersion, mixing, and scattering for the last four centuries, resulting in tens of thousands of traditions, denominations, sub-denominations, factions, sects, cults, and who knows what else, world-wide. The World Christian Encyclopedia gives these numbers as of the 21st century:

  • Inde­pen­dents: 22,000 denom­i­na­tions

  • Protes­tants: 9000 denom­i­na­tions

  • Mar­gin­als: 1600 denom­i­na­tions

  • Ortho­dox: 781 denom­i­na­tions

  • Catholics: 242 denom­i­na­tions

  • Angli­cans: 168 denom­i­na­tions

The sheer amount of confusion over doctrine is truly representative of Babel.