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When they were migrating from the east, they came to a valley in the land of Shinar[a] and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.” They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky,[b] and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.”

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Footnotes

  1. 11:2 Shinar: see note on 10:10.
  2. 11:4 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.”

As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b](A) and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks(B) and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,(C) and tar(D) for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,(E) so that we may make a name(F) for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered(G) over the face of the whole earth.”(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 11:2 Or from the east; or in the east
  2. Genesis 11:2 That is, Babylonia