Question
Gramps,
Why did the Lord confound the language?
Karen
Answer
Karen,
The question of language in the afterlife is intricately bound to how language began. According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when Adam and Eve were placed on earth, they were given a unique means of communication. The Pearl of Great Price states:
“And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration… their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled” (Moses 6:5-6).
Thus, Adam’s language was considered both divine in origin and untainted by corruption or confusion. This “pure language” was believed to be universally transmitted among Adam’s descendants until the event at the Tower of Babel. Here lies a key foundation: the earliest faithful on earth communicated through a single, inspired language.
The Book of Genesis and the Book of Mormon both recount the event at Babel, when God intervened to confound the people’s language and scatter them across the earth. But there’s a lesser-known exception captured in the Book of Ether—a group who retained Adam’s original language.
As explained by Hugh Nibley, prominent Latter-day Saint scholar, the Book of Ether depicts “the uprooting and scattering… not merely family groups but groups of friends and associates.” Notably, “there was no point in having Jared’s language unconfounded if there was to be no one he could talk to, and his brother cried to the Lord that his friends might also retain the language.” God granted this request, allowing Jared, his brother, and their associates to retain the pure language while others were “confounded”—a process not just of introducing new languages but of altering the meanings within groups.
This exception shows the significance the Church places on a divinely appointed, uncorrupted language—and foreshadows the possibility that, in heaven, such a language will again be universal.
Who were these people granted the extraordinary blessing of retaining the Adamic language? The Jaredites, as the Book of Ether recounts, were led away from Babylon and given the privilege to “not be confounded” in their speech. They journeyed to a new land, preserving this form of celestial speech for generations:
“There was one exception to that confounding of tongues. It can be found in the Book of Ether, one of the books of the Book of Mormon, wherein we learn that two families, those of Jared and his brother, Mohonri Moriancumer, and all their friends, were all granted the blessing of retaining, as their own, the pure and undefiled language given to Adam.”
The result? A record written on gold plates in the Adamic tongue that, if translated, would fill a thousand pages of English. “So the written language of Adam was a very powerful writing form.”
This provides an indirect answer to modern speculation about the “heavenly tongue”: the language closest to the Divine on earth was spoken by Adam, then by the Jaredites, and was marked by clarity, power, and purity.
With the rise of global missionary work, sometimes tongue-in-cheek assertions circulate—such as the rumor that “the language of the Celestial Kingdom is Spanish.” However, as answered by Church sources:
“Now that should give you some idea of what languages are NOT the language of the Celestial Kingdom.”
The tongue of Adam, not one of the currently spoken world languages, is described in revelation and tradition as the most likely candidate for celestial communication.
Hugh Nibley carefully explains that the scriptural language around Babel shows that confounding tongues was not just about inventing new languages, but about “having words that are actually ours change their meaning among us.” In context, this confounding separated peoples culturally and linguistically—not just through incomprehensible shouts, but by the gradual loss of common understanding.
Nibley further unpacks that the “whole earth” being “of one language and one speech” may more narrowly refer to a known region or people, not necessarily the entire globe, opening up for interpretive nuance in what is often a literalized passage.
Continuing revelation holds out the hope for a future reunification of speech. Zephaniah 3:9, for example, prophesies: “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.”
Many leaders of the Church have referenced this prophecy as a glimpse of what’s to come—a return to Adamic language or a “pure language” in the hereafter.
The pattern is clear: whenever God’s people are united in purpose and righteousness, a common tongue emerges. According to Nibley, “the confounding of people is not to be separated from the confounding of their languages; they are, and have always been, one and the same process: the Lord, we are told…‘did not confound the language of Jared; and Jared and his brother were not confounded…’” Language, in this sense, is inseparable from unity of heart and mind—a reflection of celestial harmony.
The present reality for members of The Church is one of rich linguistic diversity, as reflected in the worldwide spread of the faith. The gift of tongues, as practiced by early Saints, is a reminder that God values our efforts to reach one another across barriers, just as He will ultimately unite His children in a common tongue.
Nibley’s insights invite humility in the face of linguistic confusion—“there is nothing said in our text about every man suddenly speaking a new language. We are told…that languages were confounded with and by the ‘confounding’ of the people.” The breakdown of communication, then, is symbolic of the broader human tendency to misunderstand and to divide. The restoration of a pure language is, at heart, the restoration of perfect divine understanding.
Gramps
