# The Tower of Babel — Babel 塔

## Translation record

**Source:** Genesis 11:1–9, **King James Version**, [Bible Gateway](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis_11%3A1-9&version=KJV), consulted 9 September 2026. The KJV passage is public-domain source text. The transcription follows that page’s spelling, including “thoroughly” and “morter”; LORD is displayed in capitals.

**Target:** Sino-Mini (小舌), [Reference 1.6.2](https://sino-mini.infinitemana.chatgpt.site/grammar), [vocabulary revision 8](https://sino-mini.infinitemana.chatgpt.site/downloads/vocabulary.json), 984 words.

All nine verses are translated below. Each includes the KJV text, Sino-Mini, the adopted pinyin readings, a close English back-translation, and translation notes. The back-translations deliberately reveal paraphrases rather than simply repeating the KJV.

Shinar and Babel retain their spelling and remain outside the ordinary word inventory. LORD is translated as 君 (jūn), the adopted word for lord/master. Quotation marks give reported speech its own sentence domain; spaces are for readability, and commas follow Reference 1.6.2.

**Translation:** “Let us” uses 咿 做 给 我 们 可 …, “make for us that ….” LORD is translated as 君 (jūn).

## Genesis 11:1

**KJV**

> And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

**Sino-Mini**

全 人 在 全 地 咿 用 啊 一 共 舌。其 们 咿 说 啊 同 话。

**Pinyin**

*quán rén zài quán dì yī yòng ā yī gòng shé。qí men yī shuō ā tóng huà。*

**Back-translation**

All the people throughout the earth used one shared language. They spoke the same speech.

**Translation note.** “Earth” is unpacked as its human inhabitants. 舌 and 话 preserve the two overlapping source expressions; this does not claim that the source describes two different linguistic systems.

## Genesis 11:2

**KJV**

> And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

**Sino-Mini**

当 可 其 们 咿 旅 从 东，其 们 咿 了 察 啊 平 地 在 Shinar 地。其 们 咿 了 留 在 那 处。

**Pinyin**

*dāng kě qí men yī lǚ cóng dōng，qí men yī le chá ā píng dì zài Shinar dì。qí men yī le liú zài nà chù。*

**Back-translation**

While they travelled from the east, they found level land in the land of Shinar. They stayed there.

**Translation note.** 从 东 preserves the KJV’s “from the east.” 平 地 describes level land without creating a word for a geographic plain. 留 supplies staying; the settlement context supplies duration. The initial 当 clause ends with the required comma. The narrative connective “it came to pass” is carried by the narration rather than treated as an extra event.

## Genesis 11:3

**KJV**

> And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

**Sino-Mini**

人 咿 说 给 别 人 可「咿 做 给 我 们 可 我 们 咿 做 啊 壤 块！咿 做 给 我 们 可 我 们 咿 完 做 用 火 啊 其 诶 硬！」其 们 咿 用 啊 陶 块。其 们 咿 不 用 啊 石。其 们 咿 用 为 可 其 们 咿 粘 啊 陶 块，啊 黑 油 物 从 地 可 诶 粘。其 们 咿 不 用 啊 粘 壤 糊。

**Pinyin**

*rén yī shuō gěi bié rén kě「yī zuò gěi wǒ men kě wǒ men yī zuò ā rǎng kuài！yī zuò gěi wǒ men kě wǒ men yī wán zuò yòng huǒ ā qí ēi yìng！」qí men yī yòng ā táo kuài。qí men yī bù yòng ā shí。qí men yī yòng wèi kě qí men yī nián ā táo kuài，ā hēi yóu wù cóng dì kě ēi nián。qí men yī bù yòng ā nián rǎng hú。*

**Back-translation**

People said to other people: “Bring it about for us that we make blocks of earth! Bring it about for us that we finish making them hard by fire!” They used ceramic blocks, rather than rock. To stick the ceramic blocks together, they used black oily material from the ground that was sticky. They did not use sticky earth paste for this work.

**Translation note.** “Go to” is an exhortation here, not a journey. 咿 做 给 我 们 可 … is the selected “make for us that …” construction for “let us”; its full inner clause explicitly names 我 们 as the acting group. 壤 块 describes the material before firing; 陶 块 describes ceramic blocks afterwards. 完 makes the firing-to-hardness process complete. Neither expression is an adopted word for brick. The descriptions of bitumen and mortar are knowingly broader than their referents: the descriptions do not uniquely identify these materials. “Instead of” is expanded into use/non-use statements in the context of this work. The comma after the later purpose clause returns to the outer 用 and its object; the final 可 describes the oily material.

## Genesis 11:4

**KJV**

> And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

**Sino-Mini**

其 们 咿 说 可「咿 做 给 我 们 可 我 们 咿 做 啊 城 和 塔！我 们 咿 欲 可 最 更 高 的 塔 部 咿 到 啊 天。为 可 我 们 诶 不 散 上 全 地，咿 做 给 我 们 可 我 们 咿 做 啊 我 们 诶 闻！」

**Pinyin**

*qí men yī shuō kě「yī zuò gěi wǒ men kě wǒ men yī zuò ā chéng hé tǎ！wǒ men yī yù kě zuì gèng gāo de tǎ bù yī dào ā tiān。wèi kě wǒ men ēi bù sàn shàng quán dì，yī zuò gěi wǒ men kě wǒ men yī zuò ā wǒ men ēi wén！」*

**Back-translation**

They said: “Bring it about for us that we make a city and a tower! We want the highest part of the tower to reach the sky. So that we are not spread over the whole earth, bring it about for us that we make ourselves famous!”

**Translation note.** The invitation uses 咿 做 给 我 们 可 …, with the inner 做 expressing the group’s construction or self-directed result. 最 更 高 的 塔 部 groups “highest” as a modifier of “tower part”; it does not borrow 顶’s Mandarin top sense. The desire makes the height an intention, not an accomplished fact. 闻 supplies fame. The final purpose clause is fronted and comma-delimited, so it does not require returning to an intermediate embedded clause. No external scatterer is invented in this speech.

## Genesis 11:5

**KJV**

> And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

**Sino-Mini**

君 咿 了 动 往 下 处 为 可 君 咿 视 啊 那 城 和 那 塔。人 咿 在 做 啊 那 城 和 那 塔。

**Pinyin**

*jūn yī le dòng wǎng xià chù wèi kě jūn yī shì ā nà chéng hé nà tǎ。rén yī zài zuò ā nà chéng hé nà tǎ。*

**Back-translation**

The Lord moved downward in order to see the city and the tower. People were making the city and the tower.

**Translation note.** “Children of men” is rendered as humans, not specifically children. Repeating both objects in a separate sentence makes it unambiguous that people were building both. The progressive reflects the unfinished project in the surrounding narrative. 动 往 下 处 expresses downward movement; 降 is unavailable for this meaning because its adopted reading is xiáng, surrender. 君 (jūn), whose adopted senses include lord/master, translates the title LORD.

## Genesis 11:6

**KJV**

> And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

**Sino-Mini**

君 咿 说 可「咿 视 啊 其 们！其 们 啊 一 民。其 们 咿 全 用 啊 一 共 舌。其 们 咿 开 做 啊 这 事。今，任 事 在 其 们 程 诶 不 从 咿 堵。」

**Pinyin**

*jūn yī shuō kě「yī shì ā qí men！qí men ā yī mín。qí men yī quán yòng ā yī gòng shé。qí men yī kāi zuò ā zhè shì。jīn，rèn shì zài qí men chéng ēi bù cóng yī dǔ。」*

**Back-translation**

The Lord said: “Look at them! They are one people. They all use one shared language. They are beginning to do this. Now, any undertaking in their plan will not be obstructed.”

**Translation note.** 开 做 tests a straightforward start-action stack. The last sentence states the claim over planned undertakings, using 任 and a negated passive participle; it does not say that every person can individually do anything whatsoever. 程 interprets “imagined to do” as contemplated undertakings. The prospective reading comes from the speech context, not a future-tense word. The forward-looking interpretation and scope rely on the speech context.

## Genesis 11:7

**KJV**

> Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

**Sino-Mini**

「咿 做 给 我 们 可 我 们 咿 动 往 下 处！在 那 处，为 可 其 们 咿 不 知 啊 别 人 的 话，咿 做 给 我 们 可 我 们 咿 做 啊 其 们 舌 诶 惑！」

**Pinyin**

*「yī zuò gěi wǒ men kě wǒ men yī dòng wǎng xià chù！zài nà chù，wèi kě qí men yī bù zhī ā bié rén de huà，yī zuò gěi wǒ men kě wǒ men yī zuò ā qí men shé ēi huò！」*

**Back-translation**

“Bring it about for us that we move downward! There, so that they do not understand other people’s speech, bring it about for us that we make their language confusing!”

**Translation note.** This continues the Lord’s quotation. 咿 做 给 我 们 可 … retains an explicit 我 们 in each requested event without identifying the group’s other members. 惑 describes confusing language; 知 means understand. The location and purpose are successive opening topics, each with its required comma. Fronting the purpose avoids an illegal return to an intermediate clause. The reciprocal group remains supplied by the story: “other people” refers to the established population.

## Genesis 11:8

**KJV**

> So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

**Sino-Mini**

则，君 咿 了 做 可 其 们 咿 散 从 那 处 上 全 地。其 们 咿 了 停 做 啊 那 城。

**Pinyin**

*zé，jūn yī le zuò kě qí men yī sàn cóng nà chù shàng quán dì。qí men yī le tíng zuò ā nà chéng。*

**Back-translation**

So the Lord caused them to spread from that place over the whole earth. They stopped making the city.

**Translation note.** 做 可 states causation with an explicit inner subject. 散 describes the people spreading spatially; it adds no claim about the means used. 停 做 is the ordinary stop-action stack. 上 全 地 expresses the surface distribution without treating 面, which means noodle, as “face.”

## Genesis 11:9

**KJV**

> Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

**Sino-Mini**

因 可 君 咿 了 做 在 那 处 啊 全 人 的 舌 诶 惑，那 城 诶 从 咿 名 啊 Babel。君 咿 了 做 可 其 们 咿 散 从 那 处 上 全 地。

**Pinyin**

*yīn kě jūn yī le zuò zài nà chù ā quán rén de shé ēi huò，nà chéng ēi cóng yī míng ā Babel。jūn yī le zuò kě qí men yī sàn cóng nà chù shàng quán dì。*

**Back-translation**

Because the Lord made the language of all the people confusing there, the city is named Babel. the Lord caused them to spread from that place over the whole earth.

**Translation note.** The cause precedes the naming and ends with a comma. 从 咿 名 consumes the naming target, leaving 啊 Babel as the second object, exactly as in the reference’s passive naming example. The final scattering is repeated because the source repeats it. Babel remains a proper name; the explanation is retained without inventing a Sino-Mini wordplay.