And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
Parallel translations
- WEB They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
- KJV And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
- NKJV Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
- NASB Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
- NLT They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)
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
The people decided to make and bake bricks, using them for stone and tar for mortar. They organize their resources for a great building effort.
Overview
The builders apply technology and cooperation to construct durable materials for their project. The detail of brick and tar highlights human ingenuity directed toward a self-exalting goal. Their united effort, though impressive, is aimed at independence from God, illustrating how human achievement can serve pride rather than the glory of the Creator.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Gen 14:10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
- Exod 1:14and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
- Exod 2:3But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
- Heb 10:24And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
- Jas 5:1Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- Isa 9:10“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
- Heb 3:13But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
- 2 Sam 12:31David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.
- Isa 41:6–7Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
- Nah 3:14Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!
- Jas 4:13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
- Ps 64:5They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.
- Gen 11:7Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
- Prov 1:11If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Isa 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.
- Gen 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.”
- Eccl 2:1I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.
- Exod 5:7–18“You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.
- Isa 65:3to a people who continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on altars of brick,
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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 11:3 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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