The beginnings · Genesis 11
The Tower of Babel
After the flood, Noah’s descendants multiply, and the whole earth still has one language and one speech. Journeying from the east, people settle on a plain in the land of Shinar. They make bricks, burn them thoroughly, and use bitumen for mortar, and they challenge one another: “Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name,” so that they will not be scattered, in defiance of God’s command to fill the earth. But the LORD “came down to see” the city and the tower. He confuses their language, so that they can no longer understand one another. Construction stops, and the LORD scatters them over the face of all the earth. The city is named Babel, because there the LORD “did confound the language of all the earth.” The rest of the chapter traces the line of Shem down to Abram, through whom God will bless all nations.
What happens
- One language; settling in the land of Shinar Genesis 11:1–2
- “Let us build us a city and a tower … let us make us a name” Genesis 11:3–4
- The LORD comes down to see the city and the tower Genesis 11:5
- God confuses their language Genesis 11:7
- The people are scattered; the city is called Babel Genesis 11:8–9
The lesson
God resists the pride of those who want to make a name for themselves without him. At Babel, languages are confused; at Pentecost, the Spirit will let everyone hear the gospel “in his own language” (Acts 2:6).
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.
Quick quiz on this story
How many languages does the whole earth speak before Babel?
“The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech”: this is the unity the LORD will confuse at Babel. Genesis 11:1
What does the LORD do to stop the construction?
“Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech”; scattered, they leave off building the city. Genesis 11:7–8
In what region do the people build the city and the tower?
Journeying from the east, “they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.” Genesis 11:2
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