Interpretations of the Tower of Babel, like the many human languages that are said to result from God’s intervention, are manifold. It is often understood as a story of hubris followed by humility and of human pride followed by divine punishment. In some interpretations the king Nimrod is said to be the instigator of the project and his plan is seen as a rebellion against God. Some readers see the insistence on creating a central human city and tower as defying the divine command in Genesis 1:28 to fill the earth. From a mythological rather than theological lens, the story has been interpreted as an etiological myth that explains the origin of language diversity.
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