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The common interpretation of Gen 11:1-9 that considers the confusion of languages in the tower of Babel account the origin of languages, cultures, and peoples is put under scrutiny. People groups in their diversity were already in existence long before Babel, reflecting the richness of diversity and multiplicity of the triune God. The unifying project of Babel is halted because it was heading to an opposite direction to the original mandate to humanity to "be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth." The preservation of cultural diversity and the dilution of human sin in the spread of the people groups serve as the background for the climactic event that connects the first part of Genesis (chap. 1-11) to the rest of the book, the calling of Abraham. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]