This should be the most extensive examination of Gen. 11 available, where you will be able to examine in depth every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 11:

Introduction

         vv.     1–9           The Confusion of Languages

         intro. 10–26         The Line of Shem—the Introduction

         vv.    10–26         The Line of Shem—the Exegesis

         vv.    27–32         Terah’s Family Moves from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran

Addendum

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

         Introduction         The Principals of Genesis 11

         Introduction         A Synopsis of Genesis 11

         v.       2              Map of the Fertile Crescent

         v.       4              What is the problem with this tower?

         v.       7              R. B. Thieme, Jr. Notes on Genesis 10 and Languages (from Syndein)

         v.       9              Philology from Bible Believers . Org

         v.      10              Special Section: Archaeology, Primitive Man and Evolution

         v.      10              Special Section: Traditional Archaeological Views

         v.      10              Traditional View of the Ages

         v.      10              Special Section: Archaeological Assumptions, C-14 Dating and Ancient Technology

         v.      10              The Assumptions of Archaeology and Paleontology

         v.      10              C-14 Accuracy

         v.      10              Scientific Achievements of Ancient Hamitic Peoples

         v.      10              Types of Genealogies Found in the Bible

         v.      14              Ages of the Patriarchs Chart

         v.      14              Why Abraham is called a Hebrew

         v.      23              Explaining the Age Decline

         v.      23              Longevity Decline of Patriarchs (Chart)

         v.      25              When did the flood occur?

         v.      25              The Biblical Chronology of Genesis 11

         v.      25              Special Section: Ancient Biblical Texts

         v.      25              Ancient Manuscripts of the Bible

         v.      26              The American English Bible Explains Genesis 11:26

         v.      26              The Meaning of the Names in Abram’s Line

         v.      26              Special Section: Population Growth; Abram’s Line

         v.      28              Transitional Point in the Book of Genesis

         v.      29              The Genealogies of Genesis (chart)

         v.      30              The Meanings of the Names of Abram, Sarai, Nahor and Milcah

         v.      31              Map of Haran

         v.      31              A Map of Abraham’s Journey

         v.      32              The Two Calls to Abram

         v.      32              An Exponential Decay Curve

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time Period

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 11

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Genesis 11

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An Introduction to Genesis 11

I ntroduction: Gen. 11 is a chapter where one might spend a little time in the first 9 verses, jump over the middle section of genealogy, and then touch on the final 5 or 6 verses. However, this is a great amount of commentary which can be done on this chapter; and there are things unique to this chapter and to the genealogical line found in this chapter which are well-worth exploring. You may think me an odd duck, but I got so into this chapter that one day, when I was nearly completing it, I spent 7 hours on it—I was that enthralled with the material.

There are a few minor issues found in this chapter which may alter your understanding of Abraham’s line and his family. For instance, it appears as though Abraham was spoken to by God on possibly two occasions asking him to move from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan. The first time, he and his family got halfway there (which God knew would happen). The second time, Abraham (Abram in this chapter) will do exactly what God asks him to do, which will be what we study when we get to Gen. 12.

It would be worth noting that, although Noah will die after the flood, his sons will likely all live very long lives, but their sons will live shorter lives and their grandsons will live even shorter lives. As a result, Shem, Ham and Japheth will all remain alive for a long time, through many generations of sons, grandsons, and descendants. At one time, in all of these 3 lines, we have anywhere from 5–20 generations alive simultaneously.

Also, only Shem, Ham and Japheth were alive during the flood and the antediluvian civilization. Therefore, they are a source of unique information known nowhere else.

The final two verses of Gen. 10 read:

Gen 10:31–32 These are the sons of Shem, with respect to their clans [or, families], with respect to their languages, in their lands, and with respect to their nations. These [are] the clans [or, families] of the sons of Noah, according to [or, with respect to] their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

Despite these references to languages and different territories, it is quite obvious that Noah and his 3 sons, and their families would all speak the same language and that they first traveled as a group.

What we have here is a typical Semitic approach to the recording of history. We just finished looking at the sons of Noah, and their sons, and how these various men founded the nations of the earth, and how they were distinguished by their languages, families and geographical locations. Now, we go back, and look at one part of human history; how man went from being one family—the family of Noah—and morphed into a world of national entities.

Let’s step back for a moment and see the overall organization. Noah and his sons get off the ark, and of all the historical events which occurred in Noah’s life, only one is recorded: Noah getting drunk and laying around naked in his tent (how would you like something like this to be one of the defining events of your life?). The reactions of his sons provided the historical trends of their descendants. That logically led us to defining exactly who descended from whom, which is Gen. 10. However, that required the author to record a pivotal event in human history, which explains how one family stepping off the ark became a world of national entities. That takes us to Gen. 11:1–9, to the first human attempt at internationalism, the Tower of Babel.

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The Confusion of Languages

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

The Targum of Onkelos is actually the Pentateuchal Targumim, which are The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel. On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. Take from http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/ and first published in 1862.

Targum of Onkelos                And all the earth was (of) one language, and one speech, and one counsel.

Jerusalem targum                  And all the inhabiters of the earth were (of) one language, and of one speech, and one counsel:...

Latin Vulgate                          And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so is all the earth a lip one [or, one speech, language] and words [the] same.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    NOW the whole earth spoke one language and with one manner of speech.

Septuagint (Greek)                And all the earth had one language, and one speech.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Origin of languages and cultures

All people [Heb lacks people.] on the earth had one language and the same words.

Contemporary English V.       At first everyone spoke the same language,...

Easy English                          The *tower in Babel shows that people are proud, 11:1-4

All the people on the earth had one language and they had one set of words.

Easy-to-Read Version            {After the flood,} the whole world spoke one language. All people used the same words.

Good News Bible (TEV)         At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words.

The Message                         At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language.

New Berkeley Version           It came about when the whole earth used one language and the same words ²that in moving in the East they came upon a plain in the Shinar territory and there they settled. V. 2 was included for context.

New Century Version             The Languages Confused

At this time the whole world spoke one language, and everyone used the same words.

New Living Translation           The Tower of Babel

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          [At the time], the whole earth shared the same lips, because they all spoke the same language.

Beck’s American Translation The Confusion of Languages

The whole world talked one language with the same words.

God’s Word™                         The whole world had one language with a common vocabulary.

New American Bible              The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.

New American Bible (R.E.)    Tower of Babel.

The whole world had the same language and the same words. [11:1-9] This story illustrates increasing human wickedness, shown here in the sinful pride that human beings take in their own achievements apart from God. Secondarily, the story explains the diversity of languages among the peoples of the earth.

NIRV                                      The Tower of Babel

The whole world had only one language. All people spoke it.

New Jerusalem Bible             The whole world spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary.

New Simplified Bible              The entire world had one language and common words.

Revised English Bible            THERE was a time when all the world spoke a single language and used the same words.

Today’s NIV                          The Tower of Babel

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      All the land was of one lip and of one word.

Complete Jewish Bible           The whole earth used the same language, the same words.

The Expanded Bible              The Languages Confused

At this time the whole world spoke one language, and everyone used the same words.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 All the country was agreed for settled objects.

HCSB                                     At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary.

Judaica Press Complete T.    Now the entire earth was of one language and uniform words.

New Advent Bible                  And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

NET Bible®                             The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

The whole earth [The whole earth. Here "earth" is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, "The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9," BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.] had a common language and a common vocabulary [Heb "one lip and one [set of] words." The term "lip" is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term "words" refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.]. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And the whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression.

Concordant Literal Version    Now coming is the entire earth to be of one lip, all of one speech.

Context Group Version          And the entire land { or earth } was of one language { lit., one lip } and of one speech.

Emphasized Bible                  So it came to pass that, all the earth, was of one manner of speech,—and of one stock of words.

English Standard Version      The Tower of Babel

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

LTHB                                     And the whole earth was of one lip and of one speech.

NASB                                     Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

Now the whole earth used the same language [Lit was one lip] and the same words [Or few or one set of words].

New RSV                               Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

Syndein/Thieme                     {The Tower of Babel; the Generations from Shem to Abram}

{Verses 1:9: Story of Internationalism}

And the whole earth {'erets} was of one language {saphah}, and of one speech {dabar - means to 'communicate categorically'}. {Note: In Hebrew style, a story is laid out and then later the details are given. So 'one language and one speech' tells us that now we have moved back before the separation of the earth into Nationalism laid out in Chapters 10:5.} {Note: Human viewpoint says that one language would be so 'good for the human race'. God protects the human race by keeping the peoples separate so everyone can have maximum freedom. The power lust of the Old Sin Nature is just to great too handle one world government. And, Satan is the ruler of this world. So if one world government did take control, we can be sure its policies would be those of Satan. 'The greatest good for the greatest number' is a Satanic policy that sounds very good to those who are NOT in power. It tickles their power lusts. And, false 'religions' are authored by the great deceiver - the devil. In these he has two basic campaigns -smear and fear. First he attacks and reference to the grace of God - building up 'salvation by some form of human works' instead - circumcism, baptism, 'living a good life', not eating pork, cows, whatever. Next, fear - Satan uses religion to 'beat' people over the heads so they are in a constant state of fear. Then they are distracted from seeing how God's plan of Grace is one of love, and happiness, and inner peace - here on earth and for eternity.}.

World English Bible                The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

Young's Literal Translation     And the whole earth is of one pronunciation, and of the same words,...

The gist of this verse:          At one time, everyone on earth spoke the same language.

Translation: All the earth is one language... The previous chapter was nearly all wâw conjunctions. We rarely found a wâw consecutive followed by an imperfect verb (several of these together indicate successive or logically successive action). However, we have one wâw consecutive here with an imperfect verb, followed by 3 of them in the next verse and 1 in the verse after that. This suggests to us that we are dealing with narrative in the Hebrew and successive acts.

What we have here is not exactly one action following the next, but this verse sets us up with a perpetual state of affairs set up by the first wâw consecutive followed by the imperfect verb. This is how it has been and this is how it continues to be.

What this perpetual state of affairs is, is everyone speaks the same language, which is exactly what we would expect. If everyone is born of Noah, then they speak the same language that Noah speaks.

Translation: ...and the same words [or, vocabulary]. Also, it says here that their words are united or the same or joined. This simply means that they all had the same vocabulary.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                In the holy language spake they, that by which the world had been created at the beginning. And it was while they were journeying from the east that they found a plain in the land of Bavel, and dwelt there.

Jerusalem targum                  ...for they spake the holy language by which the world was created at the beginning: while their hearts erred afterwards from the Word of Him who spake, and the world was, at the beginning; and they found a plain in the land of Pontos and dwelt there.

Latin Vulgate                          And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so he is in their pulling up stakes from east and so they find a plain in a land of Shinar and so they stay there.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And it came to pass, as men journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sinar; and they settled there.

Septuagint (Greek)                And it came to pass as they moved from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       ...but after some of them moved from the east and settled in Babylonia,...

Easy English                          When people moved to the east, they found a plain in the country called Shinar. And they stayed there.

Easy-to-Read Version            People moved from the East [This usually means the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as far as the Persian Gulf.]. They found a plain in the country of Shinar. The people stayed there to live.

Good News Bible (TEV)         As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there.

The Message                         It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.

New Century Version             As people moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

New Life Bible                        And as men traveled in the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and made their home there.

New Living Translation           As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia [Hebrew Shinar.] and settled there.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then as they migrated from the east, they found a flat area of land in Shinar, and they started living there.

Beck’s American Translation As people traveled in the east, they found a plain in the country of Babylonia and lived there.

Christian Community Bible     As people moved from east, they found a plain in the country of Shinar where they settled.

God’s Word™                         As people moved toward the east, they found a plain in Shinar [Babylonia] and settled there.

New American Bible (R.E.)    When they were migrating from the east, they came to a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. Shinar: the land of ancient Babylonia, embracing Sumer and Akkad, present-day southern Iraq, mentioned also in 11:2; 14:1.

NIRV                                      They moved to the east and found a broad valley in Babylonia. There they settled down.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      As they were journeying east, they found a canyon in the land of Central-Iraq and they dwelled there.

Bible in Basic English             And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.

The Expanded Bible              As people ·moved [migrated] ·from the east [or eastward; 2:8; 4:16], they found a plain in the land of ·Babylonia [^LShinar] and settled there.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 But some of them marching from the East arrived at a plain in the Bush-land, and halted there.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

New Advent Bible                  And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

NET Bible®                             When the people [Heb "they"; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.] moved eastward [Or perhaps "from the east" (NRSV) or "in the east."], they found a plain in Shinar [Heb "in the land of Shinar."] [Shinar is the region of Babylonia.] and settled there.

NIV – UK                                As people moved eastward [Or from the east; or in the east], they found a plain in Shinar [That is, Babylonia] and settled there.

The Scriptures 1998              And it came to be, as they set out from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinʽar [Earlier name for Babel], and they dwelt there.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And as they journeyed eastward, they found a plain (valley) in the land of Shinar, and they settled and dwelt there.

Concordant Literal Version    And coming is it in their journey from the east, that they are finding a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwelling there are they.

Emphasized Bible                  And it came to pass as they brake away onwards, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there.

English Standard Version      And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

The Geneva Bible                  And it came to pass [One hundred and thirty years after the flood. ], as they [That is, Nimrod and his company.] journeyed from the east [That is, from Armenia where the ark stayed.], that they found a plain in the land of Shinar [Which was afterward called Chaldea. ]; and they dwelt there.

Green’s Literal Translation    And it happened, as they pulled up stakes from the east, they found a level valley in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.

LTHB                                     And it happened, as they pulled up stakes from the east, they found a level valley in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.

New RSV                               And as they migrated from the east [Or migrated eastward], they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Migration of Peoples from the Mountain of Ararat}

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east {first began to spread out}, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar {in Chaldea}. And they 'dwelt in blessing' {yashab} there. {Note: Man's descent from the mountain was physically and spiritually as well.}.

World English Bible                It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they lived there.

Young's Updated LT              And it comes to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwell there.

The gist of this verse:          Mankind moved as a group from the east and settled in the Plain of Shinar, which became known as Babylonia.

Translation: Then it was when they journeyed from the east... Recall that the earth had been flooded and that the waters had receded, but they were still receding from the land. They are in a mountain range where they may have been traveling in a south-easterly direction. However, when they looked toward the west, they noticed a great plain where the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers were. At this time, these would have been great rushing rivers and the ground would be quite green from the earth becoming covered with plant life. From the mountains, they would be moving from the east toward the west.

Translation: ...that they found a plain in the land of Shinar... The population of man is growing quickly. They are able to remain together, but, apart from Noah, who was 600 years old at the beginning of the flood, everyone remains alive for a long time. Therefore, they need a great plain to plant crops and trees and they needed easy access to water, and they had both of these.

To the right is a Map of the Fertile Crescent (from atil.blog.bg). The ark would have come to rest in the mountains of Asian Minor. As the water recedes, Noah and his son would have gone eastward and then south-east through the Zagros Mountains. As the water receded further, they would have gone into the fertile crescent, the valley through which the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run. These would have been much larger rivers at this time; the countryside would have had much more moisture, so coming down to where the rivers run into the Persian Gulf is essentially where the Bible indicates that early man would have come. By this time, there would have been a population explosion, and as the waters continued to recede, the population would have moved further down the mountains and finally into the valley. This is where Shinar (Babylon) is located.

Shinar means country of two rivers. This would be where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet, in an area which was later called Babylonia and Chaldea, which most consider to be the cradle of civilization. Today, this is Iraq, where things have changed dramatically. One of the cities built in this area would be later called Ur of the Chaldees, Abraham’s city of origin.

Translation: ...and, therefore, they stayed there. This provided mankind with all that they needed at that point in time—level ground, tillable soil and a source of water.

Gen 11:1–2 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.

As we saw, the ark probably came to rest in the mountains of Armenia, and the ever-expanding clan of Noah first traveled southeast through the mountain ranges, and then, as the earth continued to dry, moved westward from these mountains into the Euphrates valley.

Language is fundamental to a people, a culture and to technological growth. We have found, through the study of wild children, that if language is not developed at a very crucial stage—in both written and spoken form—it may never develop completely. In the study of wild children—children who have been fundamentally deprived in their developmental years—there is no making this up. A child whose language is not developed by age 7 or 8 will never catch up. Children who have been locked away in closets and rooms in their developmental years (or are raised by animals during this time) never develop their language or their thinking. It is not uncommon for a wild child, even when brought into some semblance of normality at, say, age 10, to be unable to develop a working vocabulary of even 30 words.

In our present-day culture—and I don’t think any studies have been done on this—we have many children being raised in homes where there is no reading material whatsoever, and their first exposure to a written language is not until their first week at school (apart from what they see on television). Such children are able to develop a speaking vocabulary, but they seem to be forever behind in school due to their struggling with reading.

Specific vocabularies are necessary for technological development. Advances in science go hand-in-hand with a technologically-specific vocabulary. Even spiritual growth requires one to develop a spiritual vocabulary. I don’t mean that, periodically, you bust out with a praise God or a Lord willing; but you develop concepts and attach to them a specific vocabulary (e.g., the phrase divine institution). In past lessons, we have studied redemption, dispensations and the Angelic Conflict. If these words mean something to you, then that probably indicates spiritual growth. No area of thought advances without a specific vocabulary, so you should not resist developing a spiritual vocabulary.

My point in this tangent is, language is fundamental to the human race, and it must be developed when a child is young. A technical language is required for any discipline.

Also important is control and saturation of the language: I write this in 2010 in the United States: who has not heard tax cuts for the rich, institutional racism, [social] justice, cap and tax? Simply establishing a vocabulary in the minds of the electorate—even when the vocabulary is essentially meaningless—can change the direction of a nation. A significant number of people in our 2008 election voted for the words hope and change, even though these words were intentionally undefined (this is not to say every Obama voter voted for those words, but a significant number did; I have spoken with college graduates who voted for Obama because we needed a change). One can drill down with many voters on either side of an issue, and sometimes their understanding of the issue is limited to a set of slogans and vocabulary words. I recall being dumbfounded when speaking to a college graduate who explained to me, quite seriously, that she voted for Barack Obama because she believed in hope and change. That was the depth of her actual knowledge that she could recall.

Controlling the language means, in many cases, influencing (and sometimes controlling) the thinking and volition of others. This is why, in the abortion debate, one side is pro-choice and the other side is pro-life. Neither side wants the other side to define them.

Gen 11:1–2 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.

The sons of Noah all spoke the same language.

In this passage, which we are about ready to delve into, there is the false interpretation and the correct interpretation. Liberal theologians teach that this is a myth designed to explain the existence of different human languages. The correct interpretation is, God has commanded man multiply and to spread out across the earth. God said to the man and the woman, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth [with people] and subdue the earth and exert dominance over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:28b; compare Gen. 8:17 9:1, 7). The natural result of man spreading throughout the earth would be nations and, eventually, a separation of languages.

The emphasis here is upon nationalism and God’s disapproval of all international movements. God does not like Communism, socialism, Islam, international green movements, the UN, the League of Nations, etc., because all of these movements and institutions operate in opposition to God.

Most of these are easy to see as being anti-God and, ultimately, anti-human. Communism looks upon man’s function as part of a great economic scheme, separate from God, with dramatic limitations upon human freedom. This is why Communist dictatorships will, upon taking control, kill masses of people, including the useful idiots who helped to put them into power in the first place. This is why people are, en masse, subject to re-education camps, when they are borderline in their commitment to communism.

Islam is the merging of church and state. I recall one person explaining the difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Judaism is both religious and political, but it is not universal. Therefore, Judaism does not seek to subjugate others. Christianity is religious and universal, but not political. For this reason, Christianity does not seek to subjugate others (bastardizations of Christianity have). Furthermore, free will is important to both Judaism and Christianity, so neither seeks to remove a person’s free will (ideally speaking). However, Islam is religious, political and universal. Therefore, its goal is to subjugate all mankind (just as the goal of communism is world subjugation to a network of communist nations—no communist movement will ever morph into a system which lacks a ruling class).

The problem with the UN is more subtle. This brings with it the concept of international law, authorities outside of a national entity, and, as we have seen on numerous occasions, it often gives international voice to tyrants.

What will happen in Gen. 11 is, man will want to cluster into a single nation, and God will make certain that man is dispersed into national entities. This will be brought about by one of the few true miracles in the Bible.

Gen. 11:1–2 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech [lit., one word]. And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.

We have already tracked Noah’s likely movements, first southeast, through the mountains, as the waters continued to recede, and then due east, into the fertile valley of the Euphrates. Obviously, being from the same father, they all spoke the same language.

V. 1 provides an excellent example of a metonym. It says that the whole earth was of one language and one dialect. The earth does not have a human language. The earth is huge and mankind upon it is a very small thing living on the earth (particularly, at this point in time). Yet the passage reads, And the whole earth was of one language and one speech [lit., one word; one dialect, one vocabulary?]. It is this group of men traveling together who all speak the same language. However, the intent here is to indicate that there are no other groups of people on this earth. The families which we are talking about—named in Gen. 10—is it, and, at this point in time, they all speak one language. Obviously, we are backtracking now, as a differentiation of language was alluded to 3 times back in Gen. 10.

The early population was not going to settle in the mountains, and not knowing which way to go, headed west, following the sun. They had no reason to separate from one another. They journeyed from the east could also be rendered as they brake away onwards and the word means to pull up as one would pluck up tent pins.

Given thousands of years, two groups of people with a common language will develop an entirely different dialect. However, we are speaking of only a few generations from Noah. Therefore, what occurs in this chapter would have to be miraculous (assuming that it is true, which I do).

Only three generations of Japheth are mentioned, but it is likely that several generations could have been skipped, since there was no specific information on these groups in this portion of Scripture. Only three generations of Ham's line are traced, but there is a bit more detail. However, Shem's line is followed linearly, as if the author is going somewhere with it.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And they said, a man to his fellow, Come, we will cast bricks, and put them in the furnace. And they had brick for stone, and slime for cement.

Latin Vulgate                          And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so they say a man unto his neighbor, “Come, let us make bricks and let us burn them to fire.” And so is to them the brick for stone and the asphalt was to them for the mortar.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them with fire. And they had bricks for stone, and slime for mortar.

Septuagint (Greek)                And a man said to his neighbor, Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire. And the brick was to them for stone, and their mortar was asphalt.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       ...they said: Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world.

Easy English                          These people said to each other, `Come! Let us make bricks. And let us bake them hard.' So they used bricks as stones to build with. And they used bitumen (black stuff from the ground) in order to stick the bricks together.

Easy-to-Read Version            The people said, “We should make bricks and put them in fire so that they will become very hard.” So the people used bricks, not stones, to build their houses. And the people used tar [Or, "pitch," a thick oil that must be heated to become liquid.], not mortar [Cement used when building with bricks.].

Good News Bible (TEV)         They said to one another, "Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them hard." So they had bricks to build with and tar to hold them together.

The Message                         They said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and fire them well." They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.

New Life Bible                        They said to one another, "Come, let us make blocks and burn them until they are hard." They used blocks for stone, and tar to hold them together.

New Living Translation           They began saying to each other, "Let's make bricks and harden them with fire." (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then one man said to his neighbor, 'Come on, let's make some bricks and bake them in an oven.' So, bricks became their stone, and tar served as their mortar.

New American Bible (R.E.)    They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire." They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

Today’s NIV                          They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      They had brick for stone and had bitumen for clay. Man said to neighbor, "Brick whitens by burning it thus on a pyre."

Bible in Basic English             And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.

The Expanded Bible              They said to each other, "Let's make bricks and ·bake [burn; fire] them ·to make them hard [thoroughly; ^Cin ancient times builders used mudbrick]." So they used bricks instead of stones, and ·tar [bitumen] instead of mortar.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Then each said to his neighbour, “Come let us set to work making bricks, and see that they are properly burnt; and bricks shall serve us for stone, and petroleum for mortar.”

HCSB                                     They said to each other, "Come, let us make oven-fired bricks." They had brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.

New Advent Bible                  And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar.

NET Bible®                             Then they said to one another [Heb "a man to his neighbor." The Hebrew idiom may be translated "to each other" or "one to another."], "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." [The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).] (They had brick instead of stone and tar [Or "bitumen" (cf. NEB, NRSV).] instead of mortar [The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.].)

NIV – UK                                They said to each other, `Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and bitumen for mortar.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. So they had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) for mortar.

Concordant Literal Version    And saying are they, each man to his associate, "Prithee! Let us mold bricks and burn them with a burning.And coming is the brick to be their stone, and asphalt becomes their mortar.

Emphasized Bible                  Then said they, each man to his friend, Come on! let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly,—So the bricks, served them for stone, and bitumen, served them for mortar,...

English Standard Version      And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

LTHB                                     And each one said to his neighbor, Come, let us make brick, and burning burn them. And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

NASB                                     They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Verses 3-4: Human Viewpoint Policy of 'Internationalism'}

And they said {'amar} one to another {idealism rebellion - interested in each - no interest in God}, "Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

Webster’s Bible Translation  And they said one to another, come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

World English Bible                They said one to another, "Come, let's make brick, and burn them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

Young’s Updated LT             And they say each one to his neighbour, “Give help, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly:” and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen has been to them for mortar.

The gist of this verse:          Men determined that what they had there in the plain could be used as building materials.

Translation: Therefore, one man said to another [lit., each man said to his neighbor],... This is a key phrase. Men were able to work together and accomplish a great deal. As ought to be clear to you, no one man can do all things. And when an area becomes more and more specialized, and requires more training and preparation, the less that prepared and trained man knows about other things. The man or woman who delivers your baby is probably not the person you want on your roof laying down shingles nor is he the guy you wanting flying your plane from point A to point B.

When the United States was working on the Manhattan Project during WWII (the building of nuclear weapons), it was not this one guy who was really, really, really smart, who told everyone else what to do and they built the atom bomb; there were many people who contributed to this project.

I love the illustration of the pencil, where its wood is harvested in one country; the paint for the outside is manufactured in another, and the graphite is mined and manufactured elsewhere. Then these things come together in a plant which may even be in a fourth country, and the lowly pencil is made, for which we pay a nickel or a dime. Although the example of the pencil is used to teach what free enterprise actually is, it also shows how men cooperating with one another can develop things that no one person can build on his own. You do not want me to build a pencil for you. And I know you are unable to build one.

When men work together, there is a great deal that may be accomplished, even with their sin natures intact.

They say to one another indicates that there is no clearly established authority at this time. That is, there is not one particular person calling the shots here. According to the Masoretic text, this is about 100 years after the flood, where Noah and his 3 sons would all still be alive; but, according to the Greek text, this is about 500 years after the flood, which would be after Noah has died (we will examine this time frame more precisely in the second half of this chapter). At one time, at least among his 3 sons, Noah was their clear, established authority. He said that they were going to build an ark and fill it with animals (at the direction of God), and so they did. However, we do not have a clear authority here; we have what appears to various people at various times urging others into a specific course of action. The verb to say is a Qal imperfect, indicating that this discussion was ongoing. This may have been one meeting where several people suggested this course of action; or, this may have been informally, while the people were encamped in Shinar, thinking about their next move.

So, for whatever reason, Noah is no longer the undisputed leader who sets the agenda. Whether he is alive and irrelevant (for instance, Noah, for all we know, could be an alcoholic at this time), or whether he has died, we do not know. We simply know that there are going to be decisions made which affect everyone in Noah’s family, and that these decisions will be made apart from Noah and, apparently, apart from God (in fact, this will be a human viewpoint, anti-God decision). What we have here is the first committee decision recorded in the Bible.

Translation:...“Come, let us make bricks... Someone, early on, figured out how to use the clay of that region, to build bricks.

Translation: ...and bake them with fire.” They determined that the clay had to be fired in order to strengthen it. They found that fire transformed the nature of the clay.

Translation: So they had bricks for stone... This suggests that, in the mountains, they had used stone previously for whatever permanent structures that they build (which would have certainly included altars to offer sacrifices to Y^ehowah).

Translation: ...and asphalt for mortar [lit., And to them brick was for stone and asphalt was to them for mortar]. They determined that these bricks could be held together with mortar, also available to them in this region.

Gen 11:3 And they say to one another, “Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

At the beginning of each quotation in vv. 3–4, we have the Qal imperative of the verb yâhab (יָהַב) [pronounced yaw-HAWB^V]. The form of this verb in the text is hâbâh (הָבָה) [pronounced haw^b-VAW], which, although this is said by Owen to be a 2^nd person masculine singular, Qal imperative of yâhab, it is not the standard form of an imperative (which is often just a shortened verb). It is used here as a stand-alone adverb of exhortation, meaning come! come on! come now, go to. Properly speaking, this ought to have its own Strong’s #, but it is incorporated as a form of the verb. We find it used this way in Gen. 11:3–4, 7 38:16 Ex. 1:10; therefore, we have plenty substantiating passages for this understanding. Furthermore, this verb/adverb is found alone and always in the same form (the 2^nd person, masculine singular), even when the speaker is clearly speaking to a number of people (as is the case in our passage). Strong’s #3051 BDB #396.

You will note that they have bricks and asphalt. The former was likely made from clay, probably found throughout this water-rich valley, and fired. They understood that a fired clay product was quite superior to the simple clay version. The asphalt was probably a petroleum product, also common to that area.

Let me add that, I believe this is the first time in the Bible where fire is mentioned. It is not presented as some great discovery, but as a means to an end. Recall that, in Cain’s line, there were metal workers, which implies the use of fire.

Bear in mind that, at this time, man’s lifespan, after the flood, was a few hundred years and he had a much stronger and healthier body (obviously) as well as a sharper mind than we do today. Also recall that our modern technological explosion is a little over 300 years old (the patent for the first crude steam engine is 1698).

Our actual time frame is about 100 years, according to the Hebrew text, and about 500 years, according to the Greek text. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic. Around 200 b.c. (give or take a century), the Bible was translated into Greek, as most of that part of the world spoke Greek, including the Hebrews (who apparently spoke both Greek and Aramaic). This became the Bible used by Jesus and by the Apostles, for the most part (although, I am unsure which version was read in the synagogues). One great area of disagreement is the ages of the men in Shem’s line in the latter half of this chapter, which line helps us to fix the time of the Tower of Babel.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Come, we will build us a city and a tower, and the head of it shall come to the summit of the heavens; and we will make us (an image for) worship on the top of it, and put a sword in his hand to act against the array of war, before that we be scattered on the face of the earth. And the Lord was revealed to punish them for the work of the city and the tower which the sons of men builded.

Jerusalem targum                  And they said, Come now, and we will build us a city and a tower, and the head of it shall reach to the summit of the heavens, and we will make us in it a house of worship at the top,......and we will put a sword in his hand, lest there be set against him the array of war, before we be scattered upon the face of all the earth.

Latin Vulgate                          And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so they said, “Come, we will build for ourselves a city and a tower and his head in the [two] heavens. And we will make for ourselves a name lest we are scattered upon faces of all the earth.”

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Septuagint (Greek)                And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name, before we are scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Easy English                          Then they said, `Come! Let us build a city for ourselves. Let us build a tower (tall, narrow building) with its top in the sky. We will make ourselves great. Then we shall not scatter over all the earth.'

Easy-to-Read Version            Then the people said, “We should build a city for ourselves. And we should build a tower that will reach to the sky. We will be famous. {And this will keep us together.} We will not be scattered all over the earth.”.

New Living Translation           Then they said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world."

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Tower with its top in the sky: possibly a reference to the chief ziggurat of Babylon, E-sag-ila, lit., "the house that raises high its head."

Beck’s American Translation Then they said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky, and let’s make ourselves famous to keep from getting scattered all over the earth.”

Christian Community Bible     They said also, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven; so that we may become a great people and not be scattered over the face of the earth!”

New American Bible (R.E.)    Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky,* and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth." Tower with its top in the sky: possibly a reference to the chief ziggurat of Babylon, E-sag-ila, lit., "the house that raises high its head."

New Simplified Bible              Then they said: »Let us build ourselves a city, with a lofty tower that reaches into space, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.«

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      They said, "Thus we will build a city and a tower with its head in heaven to make our name. Otherwise we will scatter over the face of the all the land."

Bible in Basic English             And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.

The Expanded Bible              Then they said to each other, "Let's build a city and a tower for ourselves, whose top will reach high into ·the sky [heaven; ^Ca ziggurat or stepped pyramid at whose top was a temple thought to be in heaven]. We will ·become famous [^Lmake for ourselves a reputation/name]. Then we will not be scattered over all the earth."

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 So they agreed. “We will build here for ourselves a City and a Tower whose top shall reach the sky; thus we will make a Beacon for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered over all the surface of the country.”

New Advent Bible                  And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

NET Bible®                             Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens [A translation of “heavens” for שָמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.] so that [The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.] we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise [ The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”] we will be scattered [The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.] across the face of the entire earth."

NIV – UK                                Then they said, `Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And saying are they, "Prithee! Build will we for ourselves a city and a tower with its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we are scattering over the surface of the entire earth.

Context Group Version          And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top [ may reach ] to the skies { or heavens }, and let us make us a name; or else we will be scattered abroad on the face of the entire land { or earth }.

English Standard Version      Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

The Geneva Bible                  And they said, Go to, let us build [They were moved with pride and ambition, preferring their own glory to Gods honour. ] us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Green’s Literal Translation    And they said, Come, let us build a city and a tower with its head in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, that we not be scattered on the face of all the earth.

Syndein/Thieme                     And they said {'amar}, "Go to, let us {volitional rebellion against God - mass numbers going against God's Word - God/'divine viewpoint' says - individual - 'whosoever believes' . . . human viewpoint 'collective' - 'let us'} build {banah} us a city {governmental rebellion - cities are ok, but this was built in defiance of God's decree to 'spread out'} and a tower {Tower of Babel - physical revolt against God - a flood proof shelter in unbelief of God keeping His Word}, whose top may reach unto heaven {Spiritual rebellion - international brotherhood - man working his way to heaven - picture of man's work getting him to heaven instead of relying on God's work (Christ on the cross) to get him to heaven}. And let us make us a name/reputation {for ourselves} {shem - name or reputation} {personal revolt - egotism}, lest we be scattered abroad {structural/geographical revolt - rejected God's decree to scatter} upon the face of the whole earth." {Note: God commanded them in 9:1 to 'spread out'. Instead, they decided to 'build up'. This is 'human viewpoint' attempting to overrule 'divine viewpoint'. Why did they do this? We need to remember that the flood has just occurred. These people do not believe the Word of God that there will not be another great flood! They think that they need a tall, tall tower just in case there is another one! So these dependents of Noah are unbelievers or believers 'in reversionism' meaning they have turned away from the Lord and His Word/Way.}.

World English Bible                They said, "Come, let's build us a city, and a tower, whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth."

Young’s Updated LT             And they say, “Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

The gist of this verse:          Mankind decided to settled in this place, build both a city and a tower (which would act as a beacon which could be seen from a far distance) so that they are not scattered all over the earth.

Translation: They also said, “Come, we will build a city for ourselves... They plan that they developed was to build a city, a central area for all mankind. They were going to settle in to this particular area. Because of the circumstances, men had a comfort in living in close proximity with one another. Whenever Charley Brown was born, he knew all of his relatives going back to Noah (Noah would have died by this time); but he knew his parents back to Shem, Ham or Japheth. When you knew all of your relatives, and they all lived together or in close proximity, it does not cause a person to want to move off toward the sunset, to see what else is out there.

Translation: ...and a tower with its head in the heavens. Building a tower so that his top is in the heavens does not mean that these men were hoping to see God. However, this was in defiance of God. “God is in heaven? We will be there too.”

There is a good possibility that this tower had some religious significance, but the Bible does not specifically tell us of any. Recall that religion is in natural opposition to God. Religion is all about merit; and before God, we have no merit.

Translation: And we will establish [lit., make, construct] for ourselves a reputation [or, a monument]... This tower would be a focal point, a monument, for the center of mankind. One could always look up and around and see this tower, and see where mankind lived.

Translation: ...so that we are not scattered over the face of the whole earth.” This is exactly the opposite of what God told them to do; God told Noah, upon exiting the ark, “Be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it." (Gen. 9:7b; HCSB; see also Gen. 8:17). God has given mankind a clear and unequivocal command through Moses, and this city and tower stand in direct opposition to God’s commands.

It is likely that, by this time, Noah had died. However, these things appear to have be said to Noah and his sons (Gen. 9:1). So, there is no reason, apart from the function of the old sin nature, for mankind to do the opposite of what God told them to do.

Gen 11:4 And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower, and its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered upon the face of the whole earth.”

Men decided, in this ancient time, to congregate in this area near the two rivers, and to build a city. One purpose of a high tower would be that, no matter which direction someone traveled, they could look around, find the tower, and return to their settlements. It would act as a beacon commemorating the center of civilization—or, more accurately, commemorating the center of humanity.

My educated guess is, that, once they had moved to Shinar, they began to experiment with various types of building materials. Over some period of time (100–500 years after the flood), they have determined that they have 2 abundant raw materials to work with: bricks and a petroleum mortar. Within a few decades, they figure out how to fire bricks and to design and build very durable buildings.

In building this tower, there is an undefined pseudo-spiritual quality here. Literally, the phrase is: ...and a tower and its head [will be] in the [two] heavens... Throughout the Bible, narrative is just like this—we are told what this or that person says or does, but there is rarely an accompanying moral judgment. Rarely is narrative ever stopped, and the writer inserts, “And God thought that was a very bad thing.” Therefore, in order to get the full impact of a passage, we have to look for clues. First of all, we can infer, simply because God’s name is not found here, that this is a pseudo-religious approach, which combined architecture, technological achievement and this tower has some undefined religious quality (its head will be in the heavens). Exactly what this meant to the people who built it, is not revealed. However, God will put a stop to this singular, centralized institution, which does give us God’s opinion of this matter (again, a rare thing to find in most narrative passages).

Gen 11:4 And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower, and its top [head] [will be] in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered upon the face of the whole earth.”

They urge one another, “Let us make a name for ourselves.” Upon leaving the ark, the first thing that Noah does is, he offers up a sacrifice to God. Here, these men—Noah’s descendants—want to glorify themselves. They want to make a name for themselves. We do not know exactly how they will make a name for themselves. Let me suggest that, Noah has died (or is drunk in his tent), and they all understand, to some degree, their impermanence on this earth. It is normal for man to ignore death for much of his life. However, this would be even more so for this group of men who have not really observed much death.

This tower is going to be a permanent achievement, because, over a few decades, they have figured out how to fire brick and to build structures which withstand rain and the elements. So, perhaps a part of what is happening—and I take this from today’s politician’s incessant need to name every building, bridge or structure after himself—perhaps they will inscribe their names and exploits and contributions on the inside of this great tower.

Today, there are going to be times when a governmental building must be built—or, maybe I should say, will be built. Wouldn’t it be refreshing for a politician to take the name of a medal of honor winner and put his name upon that building, and, on the entryway of that building, have the text permanently set in stone along the wall?

Back to reality: Then these men indicate the reason for building this city and this tower: “...so that we are not scattered upon the face of the whole earth.”

Recall God’s command to Noah and his sons: “But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.” (Gen. 9:7). However, just 3 or 4 generations later, their mantra was “Let's build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves so that we won't become scattered all over the face of the earth.” These men are exalting themselves—“Let us make a name for ourselves”—and they have decided that, becoming scattered throughout the earth, separated from one another, is a bad thing.

You will note that this came about from discussions, where they urged one another, and did so totally apart from the Word of God. This was the decision of a committee. These men are not far removed from the flood, however, for the vast majority of mankind, the flood was some event in the distant past (for most people, whatever happened before they were born is the distant past). We know that antediluvian information was passed along—from parents to their children—because we have Gen. 1–9 today and we have both mythology and the story of the flood, which is a part of nearly every culture. However, even though Shem is definitely alive at this time, civilization is quickly moving away from God.

You may wonder, how is this possible? We are a 100–500 years out from the flood; how can man be this negative? Only 4 men actually witnessed the flood. Only 4 men have even seen the ark. It is now 5 or 6 generations later (this is not a guess on my part, but will be confirmed in the second half of this chapter—Gen. 11:17–19). If every family had 10 children, there could be as many as 300,000 people alive at this point in time, which is Peleg’s generation (who Peleg is, is coming up in a few lessons). Only 10 people saw the ark, lived in the ark and endured the flood (2 of them may even be dead by this time). For 300,000 people, it is just something their great, great, great, great grandparents talk about. They did not see the flood. They did not hear the voice of God. These old people have told them all kinds of things. I suspect that most of these people believed that a flood took place, but, still, they are the new generation, and they have a new way of thinking and a new way of doing things.

So they actually begin to build this city and this tower, which marks the center of humanity—a tower which reaches into the heavens and a city which establishes, in their minds, the greatness of mankind.

For additional reading on the Tower of Babel and ziggurats in general, let me suggest this webpage:

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a021.html

So far, we have studied the first 4 verses of this chapter:

Gen 11:1–4 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they lived there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower, and its top [head] [will be] in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered upon the face of the whole earth.”

We found that, even though this is narrative, we were able to determine what the problem was with this tower. It represented the glorification of man; it was to be a rallying point in order to keep the human race together; it was man’s distrust of God’s promise not to flood the earth again, and there was an undefined heathenistic religious quality to it.

Now God enters into the picture. Insofar as we know, over a period of 100–500 years, God has had direct contact with man on only one previous occasion after the flood—when Noah and his family exited the ark, God spoke to Noah. I mention this because there are a plethora of people who write about their frequent interactions directly with God (hopefully, you don’t know that these people even exist, because they are either delusional, liars or both).

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And the Lord was revealed to punish them for the work of the city and the tower which the sons of men builded.

Latin Vulgate                          And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so comes down Y^ehowah to see the city and the tower which had built sons of the man.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which men were building.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the humans built.

Contemporary English V.       But when the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower,...

Easy-to-Read Version            The Lord came down to see the city and the very tall building. The Lord saw the people building these things.

The Message                         GOD came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

New Berkeley Version           Then the Lord came down to take a look at the city and the tower which the sons of men were building. While God was everywhere, as the sacred writer well knew, He paid at that time particular attention to this earthly attempt.

New Living Translation           But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then the Lord came down to see this city and its tower, which the sons of men had built.

God’s Word™                         The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the descendants of Adam were building.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Yahweh descended to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam built.

Bible in Basic English             And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 But a Chief came down to inspect the city and the tower which the sons of men had built;...

NET Bible®                             But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people [Heb "the sons of man." The phrase is intended in this polemic to portray the builders as mere mortals, not the lesser deities that the Babylonians claimed built the city.] had started [The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.] building.

NIV – UK                                But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And descending is Yahweh to see the city and the tower which the sons of humanity build.

Context Group Version          And YHWH came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of man built.

The Geneva Bible                  And the LORD [Meaning, that he declared by effect, that he knew their wicked enterprise; for Gods power is everywhere, and neither ascends nor descends. ] came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

LTHB                                     And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built.

Syndein/Thieme                     And Jehovah/God came down {anthropomorphism - God is omnipresent - He did not have to 'go anywhere' - this is 'ascribing to God human characteristics in order to help man understand God'} to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built {banah}.

Webster’s Bible Translation  And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men were building.

World English Bible                Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Young’s Updated LT             And Jehovah comes down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have built.

The gist of this verse:          God, as manifest as a man or as an angel, comes down in this form to see what mankind is doing.

Translation: Then Y^ehowah came down to see the city... God is able to see all that mankind is doing from anywhere, as God is not actually localized. God is omniscient. However, God frequently took the form of an angel and went to specific places. Why? Because God would lead angels to this area to listen and to observe. This is not an anthropomorphism. God really does take on a form and He really does go down from heaven, where His form is also localized as the Revealed Member of the Trinity, and He goes to this city. We may assume that angels accompany Him—both fallen and elect.

Essentially, the earth is both the classroom and a movie theater, if you will, for angels. In order to understand Who God is, angels follow the Revealed Member to the earth and they hear what He says and they observe what He does and then they observe what the results are.

Rush Limbaugh said something which was quite profound: “When a person is born, that is when history begins for that person.” Now, as we get older, we become more interested in what preceded us, but it is the nature of man and his indwelling sin to think that everything important began when he (or she) was born. Angels are no different. There is no indication that angels were born, but angels are created beings. God created many billions of angels, and then told them what was going on. “I am God, I made you, and now, here are the mandates which you must follow.”

Now, newly created angels don’t know what came before them. What God is telling them is what they accept, but they have no real proof. Then Satan rebelled against God, saying that he would be like the Most High and he took a third of the angels with him.

What human history is to angels is a teaching exercise; God’s essence is applied to mankind, mankind has free will, and the result is human history. Angels view human history as we might watch a movie. However, they can move freely about between the various scenes and groups of people. Therefore, when God is going to show the angels something, He takes on the form of an angel (a form which Jesus Christ might have continued to operate within throughout the time prior to the 1^st advent).

Translation: ...and the tower... And they are going to take a look at the tower as well. The fact that this tower is said to have its head in the heavens suggest that it functions in opposition to God in some way—possibly as a tower to humanity.

Translation: ...that the sons of man had built. All of this had been put together by mankind, who was possibly a hundred or two hundred years from the ark.

Gen 11:5 And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam [or, the sons of man] had built.

You recall that I mentioned anthropopathisms, where a characteristic of man is applied to God. God is omnipresent, so that He does not have to go from point A to point B in order to observe something. However, such language (called language of accommodation) is used in order to explain what God is doing. It is stated in terms that we understand.

There is probably more to this first verb than a simple anthropathism. Throughout human history, God demonstrates His character and essence to angelic creation, to both fallen and elect angels. As we previously saw, in the Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict (HTML) (PDF) (WPD), Satan is not now in the Lake of Fire, even though he has been judged and sentenced, because the verdict of his trial is likely being appealed. The basic grounds for appeal is God character and essence. God’s wisdom and foresight are at play here. So, what appears be occurring here is, God brings the angels to observe His next act. Therefore, they all come down to earth to this partially-built city and tower and what God will do. Recall, God told man to spread out throughout the earth, and man has said, “We like it right here, just fine; so we’re going to stay right here.”

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and the language of all of them one: and this they have thought to do: and now they will not be restrained from doing whatever they imagine.

Latin Vulgate                          And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so says Y^ehowah, “Behold, people [are] one and tongue, one to all of them. And this their beginning to do and now nothing is restrained from them [in] all which they purpose to do.”

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And the LORD said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and they have reasoned to do this thing; and now nothing will prevent them from doing that which they have imagined to do.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the Lord said, Behold, there is one race, and one language of all, and they have begun to do this, and now nothing shall fail from them of all that they have undertaken to do.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       ...he said: These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want.

Easy English                          The *Lord said, `Look! They are all one group of people. They all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what the people will do. They will be able to do everything that they plan to do. Nothing is impossible.

Easy-to-Read Version            The Lord said, “These people all speak the same language. And I see that they are joined together to do this work. This is only the beginning of what they can do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want.

Good News Bible (TEV)         ...and he said, "Now then, these are all one people and they speak one language; this is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want!.

The Message                         GOD took one look and said, "One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they'll come up with next--they'll stop at nothing!.

New Berkeley Version           The Lord said: Look! One people and all with one language! The way they are starting to behave, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

New Century Version             The Lord said, "Now, these people are united, all speaking the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. They will be able to do anything they want.

New Life Bible                        And the Lord said, "See, they are one people, and they all have the same language. This is only the begin-ning of what they will do. Now all they plan to do will be possible for them.

New Living Translation           "Look!" he said. "The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And Jehovah said, 'Look; they are all the same race and they share the same lips, and now they've started doing this. [Before long], they will be able to accomplish anything they set out to do.

Beck’s American Translation “Look, one people!” the LORD said. “And they all talk one language. And this is only the beginning of what they’ll do. Now nothing they plan to do will be too hard for them.

God’s Word™                         The LORD said, "They are one people with one language. This is only the beginning of what they will do! Now nothing they plan to do will be too difficult for them.

New American Bible (R.E.)    Then the LORD said: If now, while they are one people and all have the same language, they have started to do this, nothing they presume to do will be out of their reach.

NIRV                                      The Lord said, "They are one people. And all of them speak the same language. That is why they can do this. Now they will be able to do anything they plan to.

New Jerusalem Bible             'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said Yahweh. 'This is only the start of their undertakings! Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.

New Simplified Bible              Jehovah said: »If they become one people speaking the same language, nothing will be impossible for them. They have begun to do this.

Revised English Bible            ...and he said, ‘Here they are, one people with a single language, and now they have started to do this, from now on nothing they have a mind to do will be beyond their reach.

Today’s NIV                          The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Yahweh said, "Behold, one people, all with one lip, all began to do this! Now none are protected from their plotting which they do.

Bible in Basic English             And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.

Complete Jewish Bible           ADONAI said, "Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they're starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them!

The Expanded Bible              The Lord said, "Now, these people are ·united [^Lone], all speaking ·the same [^Lone] language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. ·They will be able to do anything they want [^LNothing they want to do will be impossible for them].

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 ...and the Chief said, “You see all these people are united in the same purpose, and having begun to do this they will not be restrained from anything they determined upon.

New Advent Bible                  And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

NET Bible®                             And the Lord said, "If as one people all sharing a common language [Heb "and one lip to all of them."] they have begun to do this, then [Heb "and now." The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered "If this. then now."] nothing they plan to do will be beyond them [Heb "all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them."].

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And saying is Yahweh, "Behold! One people is it. And one lip is for them all. And this they started to do! And now nothing will be defended from them of all that they will plan to do.

Darby Translation                  And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and have all one language; and this have they begun to do. And now will they be hindered in nothing that they meditate doing.

English Standard Version      And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

The Geneva Bible                  And the LORD said [God speaks this in derision, because of their foolish persuasion and enterprise. ], Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Green’s Literal Translation    And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and the lip one to all of them, and this they are beginning to do, and now all which they have purposed to do will not be restrained from them.

LTHB                                     And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and the lip one to all of them, and this they are beginning to do, and now all which they have purposed to do will not be restrained from them.

New King James Version       And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.

New RSV                               And the Lord said, `Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Syndein/Thieme                     And the Jehovah/God said {'amar}, "Behold, the people . . . one {internationalism}, and they have all one language. And this {building of the tower} they just begin to manufacture {`asah - out of negative volition} {only beginning of their revolt/internationalism in view}. And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have 'evilly imagined' {zamam} to do {`asah} {see Romans 1:18 on the evil imaginations of man leads to their own degenerations}.

World English Bible                Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.

Young’s Updated LT             And Jehovah says, “Lo, the people is one, and one pronunciation is to them all, and this it has dreamed of doing; and now, nothing is restrained from them of that which they have purposed to do.

The gist of this verse:          God points out that the people have one language and that pretty much anything that they purpose to do, they will be able to do.

Translation: Y^ehowah also said, “Observe, the people [are] one... It is certainly worthwhile, every time that we hear of someone speaking, to ask, who are they speaking to and why? Here, we are not told to whom God is speaking, so let me propose that He is speaking to a congregation of angels—there may be all 100 billion of them (or, whatever). This is a part of the Angelic Conflict.

There are a lot of things that we rarely appreciate. Angels have a beginning. One moment there were no angels and the next moment there are angels. God could tell them Who He is and how they got there, but they have no memory of what came before, because they did not exist before. So, during the era of human history, God, when He enters into human history, explains why He is doing so. Angels observe what is going on. They can choose to believe God or to disbelieve Him; and they can choose what their relationship should be to God.

Angels see, firsthand, by observation, what man is like and what God is like. They learn to understand and appreciate God’s relationship to us.

God says, behold, because this is a point of doctrine or something upon which they need to concentrate. First of all, the people are acting in concert; they are acting as one. You might say that there is international cooperation among them (although they have not yet been broken up into separate nations).

Translation: ...with one language—all of them. All of the people speak the same language. There have been times—failed times—when there have been attempts to get nations to all speak the same language. No idea how serious Esperanto was, but it obviously never caught on. The closest that we have to a universal language is English, one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn.

In any case, God is speaking to the angels and He is saying that this is a problem. Everyone speaking the same language is a real problem for mankind. Men acting in concert is a real problem.

This is illustrated, in part, by their disobedience to God. They can certainly agree on one thing—God told them to spread out, so they agree that they ought to stay together.