And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
Parallel translations
- WEB As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
- BSB And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
- NKJV And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
- NASB And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
- NLT As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Migrating eastward, people settled on a plain in Shinar. They gather in the place associated with Babel and human pride.
Overview
Humanity moves east and settles in the plain of Shinar, the same region linked to Nimrod's kingdom and Babel. Movement eastward in Genesis often signals drifting away from God's presence. This settling sets the stage for the prideful building project that provokes God's intervention and the scattering of the nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 10:10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
- Dan 1:2And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
- Gen 14:1And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
- Zech 5:11And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
- Isa 11:11And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- Gen 13:11Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
- Gen 11:9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 11:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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