The Tower of Babylon · 4373 dagen geleden by Ad van den Ende
Genesis 11, 1-9
1 Καὶ ἦν πᾶσα ἡ γῆ χεῖλος ἕν,
And the whole earth had one language
καὶ φωνὴ μία πᾶσιν.
and one dialect for everybody.
2 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ κινῆσαι αὐτοὺς
And it happened as they wandered
ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν εὗρον πεδίον
from the east that they found a plain
ἐν γῇ Σεννααρ καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐκεῖ.
in the land Babylonia, and settled there.
3 καὶ εἶπεν ἄνθρωπος τῷ πλησίον
And the man said to his neighbour:
Δεῦτε πλινθεύσωμεν πλίνθους
Come on! Let us make bricks
καὶ ὀπτήσωμεν αὐτὰς πυρί.
and bake them in the fire.
καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς
And for them became
ἡ πλίνθος εἰς λίθον,
the brick a stone,
καὶ ἄσφαλτος ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ πηλός.
and tar was for them the cement.
4 καὶ εἶπαν
and they said:
Δεῦτε οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς
Come on! Let us build for ourselves
πόλιν καὶ πύργον,
a city and a tower,
οὗ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἔσται
of which the top will be
ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ,
unto the heaven,
καὶ ποιήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς ὄνομα
and so we will make for ourselves a name
πρὸ τοῦ διασπαρῆναι
and not be scattered
ἐπὶ προσώπου πάσης τῆς γῆς.
all over the earth.
5 καὶ κατέβη κύριος
And the Lord came down
ἰδεῖν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν πύργον,
to see the city and the tower
ὃν ᾠκοδόμησαν οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
which the sons of the men had built.
6 καὶ εἶπεν κύριος
And the Lord said:
Ἰδοὺ γένος ἓν
Look, one people
καὶ χεῖλος ἓν πάντων,
and one language for all people
καὶ τοῦτο ἤρξαντο ποιῆσαι,
and this they began to do,
καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἐξ αὐτῶν πάντα,
and not will be impossible for them all
ὅσα ἂν ἐπιθῶνται ποιεῖν.
what they plan to do.
7 δεῦτε καὶ καταβάντες
Come on! Let us go down
συγχέωμεν ἐκεῖ αὐτῶν τὴν γλῶσσαν,
and mix up their language there,
ἵνα μὴ ἀκούσωσιν ἕκαστος
so that nobody will understand
τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ πλησίον.
the speech of his neighbour.
8 καὶ διέσπειρεν αὐτοὺς κύριος ἐκεῖθεν
And the Lord scattered them from there
ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς,
all over the earth,
καὶ ἐπαύσαντο οἰκοδομοῦντες τὴν πόλιν
and they stopped building the city
καὶ τὸν πύργον.
and the tower.
9 διὰ τοῦτο ἐκλήθη
That’s why was named
τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς Σύγχυσις,
the name of it Babylon
ὅτι ἐκεῖ συνέχεεν κύριος
because there the Lord mixed up
τὰ χείλη πάσης τῆς γῆς,
the languages of all the people
καὶ ἐκεῖθεν διέσπειρεν αὐτοὺς
and from there he scattered them,
κύριος ὁ θεὸς
the Lord God,
ἐπὶ πρόσωπον
across the surface
πάσης τῆς γῆς.
of the whole earth.
