Chiasm in the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

• 10:22-32 - Descendants of Shem
• 11:1 – One language and the people migrated together
• 11:3-4 – Let us make bricks (laban, which is lamed-bet-nun) and build a city so we won’t be dispersed
• 11:5 – God came down.
• 11:6 – God saw their pride and how it would progress
• 11:7a – God came down.
• 11:7b-8 – Let us confuse (v’nablah, which contains the root nun-bet-lamed) their language so they will be dispersed and stop building the city.
• 11:9 – Many languages and the people scattered
• 11:10-26 - Descendants of Shem

An alternative arrangement of this chiasm, which I kind of like better:

• 10:22-32 - Descendants of Shem
• 11:1-2 - One language and the people migrated together
• 11:3 - The people determined to build
• 11:4 - Then they said, "Come, let us..."
• 11:4 - Build a city, become great, remain united
• 11:5 - YHVH came down to witness their city and tower
• 11:6 - People united, will become great, do anything
• 11:7 - "Come, let us..."
• 11:7-8 - Stop the people from building
• 11:9 - Confuse the language and scatter the people
• 11:10-26 - Descendants of Shem

Common worship, language, and culture can be great unifying forces. Nimrod and the Babylonians were aware of this and tried to leverage it, but they aren't enough. The Tower of Babel was a pre-figured counterfeit of the Temple of Jerusalem. The only truly worthy and enduring unifying force is the true worship of the only true God.

Update 2023-10-20. The chiasm extends earlier into chapter 10 and to the end of chapter 11, encompassing the genealogy of Shem, at the very least. I've updated the diagrams above to show this.

HT: Tim Hegg at TorahResource.