Genesis 11:6

4 And 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.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.
KJV
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
WEB
The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.
ASV
And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.
DARBY
And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and have all one language; and this have they begun to do. And now will they be hindered in nothing that they meditate doing.
BLB
And YHWH said, “Behold, the people [are] one, and one language [is] to them all, and this they have begun to do. And now nothing will be restrained from them of all that they devise to do.
ÅB
Og Herren sa: Se, de er ett folk, og ett tungemål har de alle; dette er det første de tar seg fore, og nå vil intet være umulig for dem, hva de så får i sinne å gjøre.
OTB
Herren sa: “Se, de er ett folk med samme språk, og dette er hva de har begynt å gjøre. Nå vil ingenting de planlegger være umulig for dem.
B1930
Og Herren sa: Se, de er ett folk, og ett tungemål har de alle; dette er det første de tar sig fore, og nu vil intet være umulig for dem, hvad de så får i sinne å gjøre.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Psalms 2:1–4

    Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

    Read in context
  • Genesis 3:22

    And 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:

    Read in context
  • Genesis 11:1

    And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

    Read in context
  • Ecclesiastes 11:9

    Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

    Read in context
  • Luke 1:51

    He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 6:5

    And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 9:19

    These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 8:21

    And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

    Read in context