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Genesis 11:2-4
New Catholic Bible
Genesis 11:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 Migrating from the east, men came upon a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them in a fire.” These bricks were what they used instead of stone, and bitumen in place of cement.[a] 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build a city and a tower so high that it touches the heavens.[b] We shall make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all throughout the earth.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 11:3 Bricks . . . instead of stone, and bitumen in place of cement: stone and cement were used as building materials in Canaan. Stone was scarce in Mesopotamia, however, so bricks and bitumen were used (as indicated by archaeological excavations).
- Genesis 11:4 Tower so high that it touches the heavens: this is a direct reference to the most important temple tower (ziggurat) found in Babylon, which goes by the name of “the house that lifts high its head.” Scholars regard the ziggurats of Babylonia as the earliest skyscrapers.
