Appearing 262 times, Babel/Babylon is both a place name and a symbol woven through the entire biblical narrative. It first appears in Genesis as the site of the tower and the confusion of languages (Gen 11:9, connected by wordplay with balal, 'to confuse'). It resurfaces as the dominant world power that destroyed Jerusalem and exiled Judah under Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs 24-25). The prophets pronounce oracles against it (Isa 13-14; Jer 50-51), and the psalmists lament beside its rivers (Ps 137). Nearly every language preserves the name as a direct transliteration: Spanish Babilonia, French Babylone, German Babel.