Summary
The Bible actually contains two explanations for the multiplicity of nations and languages:

(1) Noah’s sons slowly spread out, as God commanded them, and found new nations with new languages. This is the Priestly version.

(2) Canaan and his brothers are cursed to be slaves to the descendants of Ham and Shem (and thus in danger of being scattered among them), they settle in the land of Shinar, they try and build a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves and prove that they aren’t slaves to anyone, God confuses their languages, and this is why we have many different types of Canaanites. This, the ‘Tower of Babel’ episode, is the non-Priestly version and the one with which most people are familiar.

Both explanations for why there is a multiplicity of nations with different languages and how these came about are, taken by themselves, completely inconsistent with one another.

One thing that becomes quickly noticeable about the Tower of Babel episode in Genesis 11:1-9 is that it seems out of place. The story has nothing to do with the generations of Shem, one of Noah’s sons, listed immediately before it and then continued immediately afterward (after Babel, the sons of Shem to Peleg are repeated). Indeed, the context of the story, Genesis 10-11, is simply a genealogical listing. Why does this story interrupt the genealogies? Even more mysterious, Genesis 11 speaks of “they” traveling from the east, “they” getting together and building a tower, and Yahweh confusing “their” language. Who does this mysterious “they” refer to? It would seem from the passage immediate before Genesis 11:1, “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood,” that the “they” would refer to the families of the sons of Noah. But this can’t be, because Genes 10:32 states that the families of the sons of Noah were divided on the Earth into separate nations, each with their own languages. Genesis 11:1 speaks of a group that is united in a world that consists of one language. Perhaps the story is supposed to backtrack to an earlier time, but this structure is decidedly clumsy and confusing. Especially when we remember that it has been placed among genealogies that are listed in a strict chronological order. Nimrod is earlier stated as founding a kingdom in Babel, in Shinar, which possibly ties him to this story, but inserting it here breaks the chronological order of the genealogies and just seems downright sloppy.

Most unusual, however, is the fact that if one looks closely enough, one can find several different linguistic styles blended into the overall account which are readily apparent in the King James translation. Genesis 10:2-7, 20, 22-23, and 31-32 are all consistent in the way they phrase things. In particular, these passages give the descendants of an individual in an ordered list. “The children/sons of W: X, and Y, and Z.” In Genesis 10:7 we see “And the sons of Cush:”, which are then listed off. Then in Genesis 10:8 the grammatical style changes and we read “And Cush begat Nimrod”, followed by a sidetracked tale about Nimrod and his kingdoms. These stylistic differences pop out and are very easy to see when the different sources are highlighted in the text. The explanation for these different styles can only be that each style was originally authored by a different person. This becomes even more apparent when one pulls apart the different sources and finds that they create separate, coherent accounts. That would mean that Gen. 10 and 11 has at least three different authors and one final editor putting them all together.

What follows is the King James Version of Genesis 10 and 11, with the four different sources highlight by four different colors. In purple are passages from the so-called Priestly source, likely to have been written by a group of Levitical Priests (the same authors of the book of Leviticus). In green are passages from a second, non-Priestly source. In brown are passages from the Bookof Generations, a genealogical listing used to transition between episodes in the early part of Genesis. In black are passages likely added by a later editor when the three sources were combined into one to facilitate the transition from one to the other (and consequently giving the appearance of a unified source). The Priestly and non-Priestly sources, when separated, form two consistent and independent accounts, neither relying on material from the other, which is what would be expected if they were originally two separate stories. Following this listing I will do just that, and show how the two sources form two independent and coherent stories that are mutually inconsistent with the other.

Sources:

Priestly
Non-Priestly (Southern, Kingdom of Judah)
Book of Generations
Final Editor

[Genesis 9:1 - 19] (God’s Covenant)

[Genesis 9:20 - 27] (Noah’s drunkardness; Canaan’s curse)

²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

²⁹ And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Genesis 10

¹ Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

³ And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴ And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

⁵ By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

⁶ And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

⁷ And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

⁸ And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

⁹ He was a mighty hunter before YAHWEH: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before YAHWEH.

¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

¹¹ Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

¹² And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

¹³ And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

¹⁴ And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,

¹⁶ And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,

¹⁷ And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

¹⁸ And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

²¹ Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children
born.

²² The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

²³ And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

²⁴ And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.

²⁵ And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

²⁶ And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

²⁷ And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

²⁸ And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

²⁹ And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.

³⁰ And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.

³¹ These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the
earth after the flood.

Genesis 11

¹ And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ 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.

⁵ And YAHWEH came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

⁶ And YAHWEH 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.

⁷ Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

⁸ So YAHWEH scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

⁹ Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because YAHWEH did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did YAHWEH scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

¹⁰ These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

¹¹ And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹² And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:

¹³ And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁴ And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:

¹⁵ And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁶ And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:

¹⁷ And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁸ And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

¹⁹ And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁰ And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:

²¹ And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

²² And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

²³ And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁴ And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

²⁵ And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁶ And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran
begat Lot.

²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

²⁹ And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

³² And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

The Priestly Story

The Priestly account of how the world was split up into many tribes begins immediately after Noah and his family disembark the Ark after the Flood waters had disappeared. God makes a covenant with Noah, promising to never flood the Earth and destroy all living things again. God designates the rainbow as a sign and a reminder of this covenant. God then commands Noah and his sons to multiply and spread out over the Earth. It is this command that drives the Priestly explanation for why there are many nations speaking many languages living in Israel’s vicinity. There are many nations spread out over the land because God commands humanity to spread out. Genesis 9:19, the last passage of Priestly material in chapter 9, states that the whole Earth was overspread by the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In fact, the passage in Genesis 9:19 flows almost flawlessly into Genesis 10:1b, as if what ended up in Gen. 10:1b was cut from what became Gen. 9:19. If Gen. 9:19b is switched with Gen. 10:1b, the passage does read flawlessly and the scene with God’s covenant flows perfectly into the Priestly genealogy: “These are the three sons of Noah: and unto them were sons born after the flood; and of them was the whole Earth overspread. The sons of Japheth…” The non-Priestly material about Noah’s drunkenness and Canaan’s curse clumsily interrupts this smooth flow.

But the whole Earth for the biblical writers consisted of nothing more than Egypt, Asia Minor (Turkey), and the Middle East, because these are the only regions that they discuss (and knew much about). Ham and his descendents are associated with Egypt and Canaan, which is right next door (Cush is a region that was located in modern day Ethiopia). Japheth and his descendents are associated with Asia Minor (Gomer and Tubal were located in modern day Turkey). Shem and his descendents are associated with the Middle East (Aram, off of the Mediterranean; Asshur, or Assyria, in Mesopotamia; Elam east of Babylonia).

The Priestly story line is simply this: The sons of Ham, Shem, and Japheth spread out over the Earth and formed their own nations with their own languages, just as God commanded them. This is why the author repeats after listing Ham, Shem, and Japheth’s genealogy that these are their descendents, with their own nations and their own languages. Ham spread out to Egypt and his descendents founded nations there, like Cush, with their own languages. Japheth spread out to Asia Minor and his descendents founded nations there with their own languages. Finally, Shem spread out to Mesopotamia and the Middle East and his descendents founded nations, like Asshur (Assyria), with their own languages. In fact, if you look at a map, Egypt, Mesopotamia/Middle East, and Asia Minor all surround Canaan, where ancient Israel (and the biblical writers) were located. It seems that they imagined Noah’s sons spreading outwards in three directions from Canaan, with Ham’s son by the same name the only one staying put.

What is decidedly lacking from this material is any reference to Nimrod or a Tower. Nimrod, in fact, isn’t even listed as a descendent of Cush (as he is in the non-Priestly material). In this account, God has no reason to confuse their languages and forcibly spread them out. According to this Priestly tradition, the sons of Noah slowly spread out and formed separate nations all on their own after the Flood. This account then picks up again with Abram, his wife, and his family moving from Ur over to Canaan. The Priestly material is highly chronological and there’s simply no reason to suppose that the same author would have interrupted this chronology to backtrack to a story about a Tower that simply doesn’t fit in with his overall theme.

The following is just the Priestly material from chapters 8, 9 and 10, combined into one.

^8:14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

¹⁵ And God [Elohim] spake unto Noah, saying,

¹⁶ Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

¹⁷ Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

¹⁸ And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:

¹⁹ Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

^9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

² And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they
delivered.

³ Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

⁴ But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

⁵ And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.

⁶ Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

⁷ And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

⁸ And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,⁹ And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

¹⁰ And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

¹¹ And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

¹² And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

¹³ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

¹⁵ And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

¹⁶ And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

¹⁷ And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

¹⁸ And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

¹⁹ These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread…

10:1b …and unto them were sons born after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

³ And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴ And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

⁵ By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

⁶ And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

⁷ And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

²² The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

²³ And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

³¹ These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

³¹ And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

The Non-Priestly Story

The Non-Priestly account begins with Noah leaving the ark and immediately making animal sacrifices to Yahweh. This is fine according to the non-Priestly version because Noah took seven pairs of all clean (fit for sacrifice) animals on board the ark. He uses these to make burnt offerings to Yahweh, who smells the sweet odor and decides never to destroy all living things ever again. Yahweh makes this promise not out of a covenant with Noah and his family, but simply because Yahweh sees that man is inherently evil from the moment he is born (and apparently he can’t do anything about it). The Priestly version does not have Noah sacrifice any animals, namely because in that material he only takes two of every kind, but also more importantly because, according to the Priestly authors, the sacrificial laws were not handed down by God until the time of Moses, so Noah would not have known how to make a proper sacrifice.

While Yahweh promises never to destroy the entire Earth ever again, Yahweh doesn’t issue a command to Noah’s family to spread out and multiply. Instead, the story continues with Ham, Shem, and Japheth living with their father, Noah, at his vineyard. Noah drinks too much wine, becomes drunk, and passes out naked in his tent. Ham walks in and sees Noah’s nakedness, and then immediately runs out to tell his brothers. Shem and Japheth cover Noah up with a garment without looking at him. When Noah finds out what had happened, he curses Canaan, one of Ham’s sons, blesses Shem and Japheth, and states that Canaan shall be a servant to Shem and Japheth. What is the meaning of this curse? It seems that the descendants (and hence nations) of Shem and Japheth shall rule over the descendants (and hence nations) of Ham, particularly the descendants of Canaan (the Canaanites).

 

 

We then learn that the whole world (which would not have consisted of very much at this point) speaks one language. This makes sense, because Noah’s sons and their descendants have not spread out. In the non-Priestly version, the tower episode is not out of place at all. The sons of Ham, cursed by their father Noah, decide to head into Mesopotamia and the land of Shinar. At this point we can now understand exactly who the mysterious “they” in Genesis 11:2 are – “they” are the cursed sons of Ham. Included in this group would undoubtedly have been Nimrod, the son of Cush (son of Ham). Nimrod in particular grew to become a powerful man (Gen. 10:8). Possibly under Nimrod’s leadership, they decide to build a tower that would reach Heaven as a way to make a name for themselves and prove that they will not be ruled by anybody. Without this context, the motivations for building the tower are unclear. Why does this group need to make a name for themselves? It is because they have been cursed to be ruled over by the descendants/nations of Shem and Japheth and, as servants to them, they are in danger of being scattered over the Earth. To prevent their group from being scattered (Yahweh did not issue any command to spread out) and to prevent from becoming slaves to Shem and Japheth, the sons of Ham begin construction on their tower.

Yahweh notices that Ham’s group is becoming increasingly powerful and He fears that there is nothing that they couldn’t accomplish so long as they are united in one language. This type of fear is completely absent from the Priestly conception of God, but remains consistent with the non-Priestly Yahweh, who just earlier found Himself realizing that there’s nothing He can do about mankind’s wickedness. So Yahweh scatters the group and confuses all of their languages to weaken them. And thus the reason for the list of Canaanite ethnic groups found in Genesis 10:16-19. The multiplicity of ethnic groups in Canaan and the rest of the known world is the direct result of Yahweh confusing mankind’s speech and scattering him across the face of the Earth, not because they willfully spread out in compliance with a direct command. The sons of Noah didn’t scatter themselves across the Earth and found new nations with new languages, Yahweh did that to weaken them.

The city in which the tower was started is named Babel, so the Bible says, because Yahweh confused their speech. Babel actually means “gate of God”, which was the name of the city of Babylon (“Babylon” is Greek for “gate of God.” In eastern Semitic languages it is known as Bab-Ilu). The Hebrew term for “confuse” is actually balel, which sounds similar to Babel. The author here is making a pun.

The following is just the non-Priestly material from chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11. Genesis 10:16-19 is a list of various Canaanite ethnic groups, and I have placed it after Genesis 11:1-9. These would be the various Canaanite nations, each with their own languages, that would have resulted from Yahweh confusing Canaan and his brother’s original speech and spreading them apart. The placement of a list of ethnic groups contemporary to the biblical writers in the middle of a list of genealogies in chapter 10 doesn’t fit.

^8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto YAHWEH; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

²¹ And the YAHWEH smelled a sweet savour; and YAHWEH said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

²² While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

^9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

²¹ And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

²³ And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

²⁴ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

²⁵ And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

²⁶ And he said, Blessed be YAHWEH God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

²⁷ God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

^11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

² And it came to pass, as they [the sons of Ham] journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

^10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

⁹ He was a mighty hunter before YAHWEH: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before YAHWEH.

¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

³ 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.

^11:4 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.

⁵ And YAHWEH came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

⁶ And YAHWEH 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.

⁷ Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

⁸ So YAHWEH scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

⁹ Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because YAHWEH did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did YAHWEH scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

^10:16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,

¹⁷ And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

¹⁸ And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

Conclusion

Two explanations for the multiplicity of nations and languages: (1) Noah’s sons slowly spread out, as God commanded them, and found new nations with new languages (Priestly version), and (2) Canaan and his brothers are cursed to be slaves to the descendents of Ham and Shem (and thus in danger of being scattered among them), they settle in the land of Shinar, they try and build a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves and prove that they aren’t slaves to anyone, God confuses their languages and this is why we have many different types of Canaanites (non-Priestly version). Both explanations for  why there is a multiplicity of nations with different languages and how these came about are, taken by themselves, completely inconsistent with one
another.

So, remarkably, a later editor took these two incompatible accounts, cut them apart, and combined them precariously into one – and the illusion almost works. People not familiar with the two separate sources read them as if they were one. Rather than being the divine work of God, this can be seen no more than the skillful editorializing of a pious Jew who was stuck with two inconsistent stories that he both revered. Instead of tossing one to the trash heap, this editor combined them into one – but the inconsistencies still remain.