Genesis 11:3

Genesis 11:3

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and one¹ speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land ^aof Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and¹ bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower ^awhose top is in the heavens; let us make a ^bname for ourselves, lest we ^cbe scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 ^aBut the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

6 And the Lord said, “Indeed ^athe people are one and they all have ^bone language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they ^cpropose to do will be withheld from them.

Commentaries:

John Wesley's Notes

<< Genesis 11:2

Genesis 11:4 >>

Go to, let us make brick, let us build us a city - The country being a plain, yielded neither stone nor morter, yet that did not discourage them, but they made brick to serve instead of stone, and slime, or pitch, instead of morter.

Some think they intended hereby to secure themselves against the waters of another flood, but if they had, they would have chosen to build upon a mountain rather than upon a plain. But two things it seems they aimed at in building. To make them a name: they would do something to be talked of by posterity. But they could not gain this point; for we do not find in any history the name of so much as one of these Babel - builders. Philo Judeus saith they engraved every one his name upon a brick; yet neither did that serve their purpose. They did it to prevent their dispersion; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth - It was done (saith Josephus) in disobedience to that command, Genesis 9:1, replenish the earth. God orders them to scatter. No, say they, we will live and die together. In order hereunto they engage themselves and one another in this vast undertaking. That they might unite in one glorious empire, they resolve to build this city and tower, to be the metropolis of their kingdom, and the center of their unity.

**Other John Wesley's Notes entries containing Genesis 11:3:**

Deuteronomy 32:8

<< Genesis 11:2

Genesis 11:4 >>

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