At the end of Deuteronomy (ch. 28), Moses describes the blessings Israel will enjoy if she keeps covenant with Yahweh, and the curses that will overtake her if she defects from the covenant. It's sobering to notice that the list of curses is far longer than the list of blessings.
Among the curses is a confusion of tongues. If she breaks covenant, Israel will be surrounded by people speaking a “language you shall not understand” (v. 49). Abram was summoned from Ur after the confusion of tongues, but the Lord warns that Israel could find herself right back in Babel.
For Israel, strange language is a sign of invasion or exile. Deuteronomy 28:49 reads, in full: “The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand.”
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