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Genesis 11:1-4

Listen to Genesis 11:1-4

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in 1the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. ” And they had brick for stone, 2and bitumen for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower 3with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. ”

Genesis 11:1-4 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 11

This chapter gives an account of the inhabitants of the earth before the confusion of tongues at Babel, of their speech and language, which was one and the same, and of the place where they dwelt, Ge 11:1,2 and of their design to build a city and tower, to make them a name and keep them together, which they put in execution, Ge 11:3,4 of the notice the Lord took of this affair, and of the method he took to put a stop to their designs, by confounding their speech, and dispersing them abroad upon the face of the earth, Ge 11:5-9 then follows a genealogy of Shem's posterity down to Abraham, Ge 11:10-26 and a particular relation is given of Terah, the father of Abraham, and his family, and of his going forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, in order to go into the land of Canaan, and of his death at Haran by the way, Ge 11:27-32.

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Cross References 3

  • 1. 11:2 ch. 10:10; 14:1, 9; Isa. 11:11; Dan. 1:2; Zech. 5:11
  • 2. 11:3 ch. 14:10; Ex. 2:3
  • 3. 11:4 Deut. 1:28
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025

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