The Babel Text

A constructed language is scarcely introduced before somebody asks for its Babel text. Genesis 11:1-9 tells how one speech became many, and Jeffrey Henning proposed it as a standard conlang text in 1996. Phi uses the King James Version, the customary reference for the exercise, as its ground truth. Its wording is stored in texts/sources/kjv_genesis.txt and cited below in full.

The translation keeps the builders' fear, their tower, the loss of mutual understanding, and their dispersal across the earth. It cannot carry LORD, Shinar, or Babel as Phi forms without inventing names or admitting a title Phi refuses. Those identities remain exact in the adjacent King James lines, while the Phi describes the authority, places, and events that matter to the story.

Each aligned unit shows the Phi, an exact structural gloss, English derived from the frozen Phi alone, and the corresponding King James wording. The complete Phi reading and a table of translation limits follow.

Translation

The story turns on command and consequence. Nine aligned units carry its nine verses: verse 3 takes two units for its two sentences, while the LORD's continuing speech across verses 6 and 7 stays inside one quote frame. The two accounts of the scattering remain two accounts; the last is not discarded as a biblical habit of repeating oneself.

One language

theula muila ta haluma nela ta haolu to phelu.

Word-by-word gloss: [UNIV earth] [[one language] COORD [one speak]] PST hold.

Literal English: (The whole earth had one language and one speech.)

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

whau lo miona lue sileta thorui to laniru lo shia mua muila ta wemo to hekawi. lo shia mua ha lokue to menui.

Word-by-word gloss: [SIMUL [[PL person] [ABL [sun beginning]] PST journey] [[PL 3SG] [LOC earth] [one plain] PST find]]. [PL 3SG] [LOC [PROX place]] PST dwell.

Literal English: (While people journeyed from the east, they found a plain on the earth. They lived in this place.)

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.

Brick and tower

lo shia wei wiso sha su lo mia lo mueri kerou pilewa. su lo mia lo mueri kerou ru thape sho to haolu.

Word-by-word gloss: [PL 3SG] [DAT RECP] [QUOT.COMP [OPT [PL 1SG] [PL [clay stone]] make]. [OPT [PL 1SG] [PL [clay stone]] [INTS burn]] QUOT.COMP.CLOSE] PST speak.

Literal English: (They said to one another, "May we make bricks. May we fire the bricks thoroughly.")

kjv: And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.

lo mueri kerou wei lo miona kerou to nai. theru nuko loesi wei lo miona lo mueri kerou lorea muralo to nai.

Word-by-word gloss: [PL [clay stone]] [DAT [PL person]] stone PST be. [thick [black oil]] [DAT [PL person]] [[PL [clay stone]] connect material] PST be.

Literal English: (The bricks were stone for the people. For them, thick black oil was material for connecting the bricks.)

kjv: And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

lo shia sha su lila lo mia nia theula muila leko so se ma thiwera lo mia wei lo mia whalo silawo nela torali lorima. torali raeli lumae mua waero po kamo. su lo mia nomei wei sheloi miona se sano sho to haolu.

Word-by-word gloss: [PL 3SG] [QUOT.COMP [OPT [PURP [PL 1SG] [ON [[UNIV earth] surface]] FUT PASS NEG scatter] [PL 1SG] [DAT [PL 1SG]] [[large village] COORD tower] build]. [[tower height] end] [LOC sky] POT arrive. [OPT [[PL 1SG] name] [DAT [MANY person]] PASS know] QUOT.COMP.CLOSE] PST speak.

Literal English: (They said, "May we build ourselves a large village and a tower so that we will not be scattered across the whole surface of the earth. The tower's top may reach the sky. May our name be known to many people.")

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.

Descent and judgment

ta limoe karami to phelu. lo miona lo lumira whalo silawo nela torali to lorima. lila shia whalo silawo nela torali nila shia lue waero kau muila to shua.

Word-by-word gloss: [one creature] authority PST hold. [[PL person] [PL descendant]] [[large village] COORD tower] PST build. [PURP [3SG [[large village] COORD tower] see] 3SG [ABL sky] [ALL earth] PST come].

Literal English: (One creature held authority. The people's descendants built a large village and a tower. The creature came from the sky to the earth to see the large village and tower.)

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

shia sha no nila. theula miona ta punoa nai. lo shia ta haluma phelu. lo shia ha pa phoa. lo shia tha lo shia phoa tho ki weni. nosa mawha phoa wei lo shia noraku so kelu. su lo mia lue waero kau muila wepu. su lila lo shia lue wiso haolu po ma shelomu lo mia mua ha lokue lo shia ta haluma lo phirae haluma ka kelu sho to haolu.

Word-by-word gloss: [3SG [QUOT.COMP [IMP see]. [[UNIV person] [one society] be]. [[PL 3SG] [one language] hold]. [[PL 3SG] PROX INCH do]. [[PL 3SG] [DECL.COMP [PL 3SG] do DECL.COMP.CLOSE] PFV imagine]. [now [NONE do] [DAT [PL 3SG]] blocked FUT become]. [OPT [PL 1SG] [ABL sky] [ALL earth] go]. [OPT [PURP [[PL 3SG] [ABL RECP] speak POT NEG understand] [[PL 1SG] [LOC [PROX place]] [[PL 3SG] [one language]] [PL [different language]] CAUS become]] QUOT.COMP.CLOSE] PST speak].

Literal English: (The creature said, "Look. All people are one society. They have one language. They are beginning to do this. They have imagined themselves acting. Now no action will become blocked for them. May we go from the sky to the earth. May we turn their one language into different languages here, so that they cannot understand one another's speech.")

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

Confounding and dispersal

thelao shia lue ha lokue nia theula muila leko lo miona to thiwera nela lo miona whalo silawo to te lorima.

Word-by-word gloss: [CONS [3SG [ABL [PROX place]] [ON [[UNIV earth] surface]] [PL person] PST scatter] COORD [[PL person] [large village] PST CESS build]].

Literal English: (Therefore, the creature scattered the people from this place across the whole surface of the earth, and the people stopped building the large village.)

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

shia mua ha lokue theula muila ta haluma lo phirae haluma to ka kelu. thelao nomei wei whalo silawo se loa. sheno shia lue ha lokue nia theula muila leko lo miona to thiwera.

Word-by-word gloss: [3SG [LOC [PROX place]] [[UNIV earth] [one language]] [PL [different language]] PST CAUS become]. [CONS name [DAT [large village]] PASS give]. [ADD 3SG [ABL [PROX place]] [ON [[UNIV earth] surface]] [PL person] PST scatter].

Literal English: (At this place, the creature turned the one language of the whole earth into different languages. Therefore, the large village is given a name. The creature also scattered the people from this place across the whole surface of the earth.)

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.

Complete translation

ta haluma

theula muila ta haluma nela ta haolu to phelu. whau lo miona lue sileta thorui to laniru lo shia mua muila ta wemo to hekawi. lo shia mua ha lokue to menui.

lo shia wei wiso sha su lo mia lo mueri kerou pilewa. su lo mia lo mueri kerou ru thape sho to haolu. lo mueri kerou wei lo miona kerou to nai. theru nuko loesi wei lo miona lo mueri kerou lorea muralo to nai.

ta limoe karami to phelu. lo miona lo lumira whalo silawo nela torali to lorima. lila shia whalo silawo nela torali nila shia lue waero kau muila to shua. shia sha no nila. theula miona ta punoa nai. lo shia ta haluma phelu. lo shia ha pa phoa. lo shia tha lo shia phoa tho ki weni. nosa mawha phoa wei lo shia noraku so kelu. su lo mia lue waero kau muila wepu. su lila lo shia lue wiso haolu po ma shelomu lo mia mua ha lokue lo shia ta haluma lo phirae haluma ka kelu sho to haolu.

thelao shia lue ha lokue nia theula muila leko lo miona to thiwera nela lo miona whalo silawo to te lorima. shia mua ha lokue theula muila ta haluma lo phirae haluma to ka kelu. thelao nomei wei whalo silawo se loa. sheno shia lue ha lokue nia theula muila leko lo miona to thiwera.

Translation limits

King James wording	Phi rendering	Remaining difference
one language and one speech	`ta haluma nela ta haolu`	`haluma` names the shared system; the event noun of speaking gives the second term a wider range than the King James idiom.
Shinar	a plain in the land, with Shinar kept in the source line	The place relation remains, but the Phi passage alone does not identify the land.
Go to, let us	optative `su`	The optative carries the exhortation without giving the archaic "Go to" a false motion sense.
brick, slime, mortar	clay-stone and thick black oil as brick-connecting material	Brick and the mortar's work are explicit. `theru nuko loesi` approaches bitumen through appearance and mineral-oil kinship rather than naming asphalt.
city and tower	`whalo silawo`, large village, and `torali`, tower	Phi keeps the settlement at human scale through a transparent phrase. The Work root names the tower directly, and `torali raeli lumae` gives its top as the end of its height.
make us a name	may our name be known to many people	Phi states the desired recognition rather than copying the English idiom as if a name were manufactured.
lest we be scattered	so that we will not be scattered	Purpose-first order places the feared result before the building meant to prevent it.
the LORD	`ta limoe karami to phelu`, one creature held authority	The source title stays outside Phi. `karami` reports authority without settling its legitimacy, while `limoe` places the unknown actor beyond ordinary human reference.
came down	came from the sky to the earth	Source and destination together carry downward motion without a dedicated verb for descent.
children of men	descendants of people	Lineage remains, while the masculine expression and its idiomatic sense of humankind do not.
nothing will be restrained from them	no action will become blocked for them	`noraku` means unable to proceed because of an obstacle, not restraint by an unnamed agent.
confound their language	cause one language to become different languages	The change is stated directly, and its purpose clause gives the intended loss of reciprocal understanding.
face of the earth	`nia theula muila leko`, across the whole earth's surface	Phi uses its ordinary noun for a physical surface rather than extending the body-part `menoa`, face, to land.
scattered abroad	scattered from the place across the earth's surface	`thiwera` states dispersal without judging it welcome; the authority established for the actor supplies the punitive force.
Babel	a name is given, with Babel kept in the source line	The naming event and its cause remain; the exact source name and Hebrew wordplay do not enter the Phi passage.