What Language Did People Speak at Babel?

“What language did the people speak at the tower of Babel before God confused it?”

Great question, Emy!

We know that Adam and Eve spoke a language from the time they were created, and that language would have been what their children and grandchildren spoke. As people spread out across the pre-flood world, dialects of that language may have formed. However, only eight people—Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives—survived the global flood, so only the language that they spoke survived the flood. It may have been the same as Adam’s language or slightly different, but it’s unlikely to have developed into a completely different language.

We can know some things about Noah’s language because he built the ark. He needed some form of writing because written plans are essential for something as complex as the ark; writing would also be necessary for keeping records of all the materials and provisions needed. That language would need a number system to record measurements. We don’t know what type of writing system existed, but it likely doesn’t correspond to any written language today.

There were only 100 years between the end of the flood and the building of the city and tower at Babel. That was enough time for people to multiply, but not enough time for language to develop much. So people would have spoken whatever language Noah had and used whatever written language Noah used, which they would have needed to coordinate a building project like the tower of Babel.

Some people think that Hebrew was the language that people spoke at Babel, and that a line of Shem’s descendants leading to Abraham was faithful, but that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says that everyone rebelled against God, and everyone’s language was confused. Abraham worshipped idols before God called him to go to Canaan (Joshua 24:2). We also know that Hebrew is related to some post-Babel languages. It developed over time like other languages, so even if the predecessor to Hebrew was spoken at Babel, it might have been quite different from the Hebrew that the Old Testament authors wrote in.

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