So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.
- BSB So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
- NKJV So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
- NASB So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city.
- NLT In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
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
So Yahweh scattered the people over the earth, and they stopped building the city. God's judgment accomplishes the dispersion they had feared.
Overview
The scattering the builders dreaded becomes God's means of fulfilling His command to fill the earth. Their unfinished city stands as a monument to the failure of pride. Yet this scattering also spreads humanity across the world that God will later reach with the good news of Christ, gathering a people from every nation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Luke 1:51He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
- 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 10:25And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
- Deut 32:8When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
- 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.
- 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.
- Gen 49:7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:8 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.