Genesis 11:1–9 recounts one of the most dramatic acts of God recorded in Genesis. Before the tribes and nations described in Genesis 10 were formed, all the people of the earth shared one language and one culture. They also shared the goal of not wanting to be separated. To that end, they decided to make themselves great by building a great city with an enormous tower—and without apparently acknowledging God. To keep humanity from being too powerful, and lapsing into the widespread sin which inspired the flood, God confuses human languages and scattered mankind around the world. The city of Babel, similar to the Hebrew word for ”confused,” would later become known as Babylon.
Genesis 11 returns to a narrative where the world of man has not yet scattered across the earth into the nations, tribes, and languages described in chapter 10. Chapter 10’s focus was broad, and looking far into the future, many generations from the end of the flood. The actual division of nations, as described in the Bible, will not happen until after humanity is divided by language and scattered across the globe. This event happens here, in chapter 11, at the Tower of Babel.
The descendants of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, remained together for a while, then migrated away from the region around Ararat, where the ark settled. It makes sense, given this context, that humanity continued to have one language and to share the same words, or common speech. Only one people group existed on the earth, and they all shared the same culture. Unfortunately, this led to almost the same problem which happened prior to the flood: a unified humanity can use that unity for sin, something God does not plan to allow (Genesis 11:6).