Tower of Babylon?

Same Hebrew word used for the tower and the city

I noticed that, according to Blue Letter Bible, the Hebrew word "Babel" is translated both "Babel" (in Genesis) and "Babylon" (everywhere else). It seems to me they should just translate it the same throughout the Bible and call the Tower of Babel the Tower of Babylon instead.

Christianeeze

Taking a look at some Biblical words

I like to know what the root meanings of some words are since we can become blinded by religion and tradition and sometimes loose the true meanings of words. It can also be hard for those who are not familiar with the Bible to understand what some words mean. I’ve already written about “grace”, “word”, and the phrase “fear and trembling” but I have a few more as well.

“Gospel” means “good news” or “good tidings”. The Greek is “euggelion”. In ancient times, when a battle was won, the messenger brought the “euggelion” back to the city. The messenger was an “aggelos” which is the same Greek word used for “angel”.

In Ephesians I came across “saint” and “church”. A “saint” in the Greek is “hagios” or “holy one”. “Holy” means “to set apart”. God set apart Israel from the rest of the nations on earth and He refers to it as His holy nation. Paul has the same idea in Ephesians and points out that Christians have been set apart from the world and are therefore saints, or holy ones.

“Church” in the Greek is “ekklesia” and means “an assembly”. The Israelites were called to assembly during certain times of the year. One of the root words for “ekklesia” is “kaleo” and it means “to call”. Paul talks about the church (or assembly) and the calling of believers throughout Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

“Tribulation” in the Hebrew is “tsar” and it can mean: narrow, tight, straits, distress, adversary, foe, enemy, oppressor, hard pebble, flint. In the Greek it is “thlipsis” and it can mean: a pressing, pressing together (like a wine press), pressure. But we get the English word Tribulation from the Latin “Trbulum” which is the word for threshing sledge. A threshing sledge was used to separate the chaff from the wheat and you can see what one looks like here.