Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Parallel translations
- WEB Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
- BSB Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
- NKJV Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
- NASB Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
- NLT Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
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
God resolved to go down and confuse their language so they could not understand one another. He acts to halt their prideful project.
Overview
Using the plural come, let us, echoing earlier divine deliberations, God determines to confound human speech. By multiplying languages, He frustrates the rebellion and enforces the scattering He had commanded. This judgment on language is graciously reversed at Pentecost, where the gospel of Christ is understood across every tongue.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 33:10The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
- Job 5:12–13He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
- Gen 1:26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Ps 55:9Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
- 1 Cor 14:2–11For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
- 1 Cor 14:23If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
- Acts 2:4–11And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
- Gen 42:23And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
- Jer 5:15Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
- Gen 3:22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
- Deut 28:49The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
- Ps 2:4He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
- Job 12:20He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
- Gen 10:20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
- Isa 6:8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
- Gen 11:5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
- Gen 10:32These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
- Gen 10:5By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
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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 11:7 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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