So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.
- KJV So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
- BSB So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped 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 has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
- Gen 10:32These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these in the earth after the flood.
- Gen 10:25To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan.
- Deut 32:8When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.
- Gen 11:9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
- Gen 11:4They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface 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.