2242 BC · Flood to Babel

The tower of Babel; languages confused; nations dispersed

The whole earth still spoke a single language. Settling in the plain of Shinar, the people built a city and a tower; the LORD confused their language and dispersed them over the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:7-9). Scripture ties the division to Peleg's days (Genesis 10:25); Answers in Genesis dates Babel to 2242 BC.

📖 Genesis 11:1–3

1Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. 2And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

© 2026 Jeffrey A. Jameson, BibleTimescape (bibletimescape.com). Map geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. Place coordinates: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0. BabelShinar
Map: Natural Earth (public domain) · Places: OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: AiG, Bible Timeline (live table)
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