The beginning of his kingdom: beginning is understood in various ways. Some take it to mean “When he began to rule,” and so Good News Translation has “At first his kingdom included….” Some understand it to mean that the places named were the first cities of his kingdom, and so Bible en français courant has “The first cities of his kingdom were….” Speiser appeals to the word as used in Jer 49.35, which Revised Standard Version renders “mainstay [of their might],” and which then means that these three cities were his main support. We may then suggest as a translation “The principle sources of his power were…” or “The people of the cities of Babylon, Erech, and Accad were his main helpers.”

Babel is referred to in the English Old Testament usually under the name “Babylon,” which follows the Greek usage. Note the heading before Genesis chapter 11 in Good News Translation: “Tower of Babylon.” Babel was located on the west bank of the Euphrates, about 80 kilometers or 50 miles south of what is today Baghdad, Iraq.

Erech was also a city on the Euphrates, about 200 kilometers or 125 miles southeast of Babel.

Accad is thought to be a city in the north of Babylonia, but it is recorded nowhere else in the Old Testament.

All of them in the land of Shinar: the translation all of them represents a change in the Hebrew vowels. Some translations understand the Hebrew word to be kalneh and assume it to be a fourth city of unknown location. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests translating as in Revised Standard Version, or Good News Translation “all three of them.” Shinar is a Hebrew name for the whole of Babylonia, which corresponds to the southern part of modern Iraq. Shinar is used in the Hebrew text of Gen 11.2; 14.1, 9; Josh 7.21; and elsewhere.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .