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Genesis 11:4

“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And they said, Come, let us build 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.

KJV

And they said, Go to, let us build 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.

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Commentary

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Original language & word study

17 tagged words
OriginalTransliterationMeaningWord study
וַיֹּאמְר֞וּvai.yo.me.Ruand they saidH559 →
הָ֣בָה׀Ha.vahgive !H3051 →
נִבְנֶה־niv.neh-let us buildH1129 →
לָּ֣נוּLa.nufor <the> ourselves
עִ֗יר'Ira cityH5892 →
וּמִגְדָּל֙u.mig.Daland a towerH4026 →
וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹve.ro.Shoand top itsH7218 →
בַשָּׁמַ֔יִםva.sha.Ma.yim[will be] in the heavensH8064 →
וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־ve.na.'a.seh-and we may makeH6213 →
לָּ֖נוּLa.nufor <the> ourselves
שֵׁ֑םShema nameH8034 →
פֶּן־pen-lestH6435 →
נָפ֖וּץna.Futzwe should be scatteredH6327 →
עַל־'al-overH5921 →
פְּנֵ֥יpe.Nei[the] surface ofH6440 →
כָל־khol-allH3605 →
הָאָֽרֶץ׃ha.'A.retzthe earthH776 →

The walk

Related verses

18 strongest cross-references

The gold bar shows how strongly the cross-reference sources tie the two verses together: a long bar means many compiled references make the connection, a short one means few.

John 5:44How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?Deuteronomy 1:28Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”Luke 1:51He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.Daniel 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”Deuteronomy 9:1Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.Psalms 49:11–13Their graves are their eternal homes— their dwellings for endless generations— even though their lands were their namesakes.2 Samuel 8:13And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.Genesis 6:4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.Daniel 4:11The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.Daniel 4:22you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.Genesis 11:8–9So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.Psalms 92:9For surely Your enemies, O LORD, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.Jeremiah 51:53Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD.Deuteronomy 4:27Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.Job 20:6Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,Isaiah 5:5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.Ecclesiastes 2:4I expanded my pursuits. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

Featured studies on this passage

Isaiah's Vision of the Destruction of Babylon — Gustave Doré

On Genesis 11:4

Babylon

“let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth”

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Caravaggio, Conversion on the Way to Damascus: Acts 9. The man holding the coats at Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58) becomes the chosen vessel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15), and the second half of the book is his journeys.

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Acts

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The Tower of Babel — Gustave Doré

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The City

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The Tower of Babel (Vienna) — Pieter Bruegel the Elder

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The Tower of Babel : Genesis 11

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Pharaoh Gives Sarah Back to Abraham — Isaac Isaacsz

Walks through Genesis 11

Sarah: Mother of Nations · MannaFest

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Bruegel's Tower of Babel: Genesis 11, the scattering that filled the Table of Genesis 10.

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The Table of Nations

Seventy nations descend from three sons of Noah — a genealogy that is really a map of the whole post-Flood world, and the doorway that narrows to one chosen line.

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About Genesis

The Tower of Babel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Tower of Babel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read chapter 11 →The featured study →
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