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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 14:10And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
- Exod 1:14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
- Exod 2:3And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
- Heb 10:24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
- Jas 5:1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- Isa 9:10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
- Heb 3:13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
- 2 Sam 12:31And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
- Isa 41:6–7They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
- Nah 3:14Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
- Jas 4:13Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
- Ps 64:5They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
- Gen 11:7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
- Prov 1:11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
- Isa 5:5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
- Gen 11:4And 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.
- Eccl 2:1I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
- Exod 5:7–18Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
- Isa 65:3A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon 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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