God’s Word Translation
Genesis 11:3
3They said to one another, “Let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used bricks as stones and tar as mortar.
Genesis 11:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
- New International Version (NIV)They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
- New King James Version (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.
Context of Genesis 11:3
1The whole world had one language with a common vocabulary. 2As people moved toward the east, they found a plain in Shinar [Babylonia] and settled there. They said to one another, “Let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used bricks as stones and tar as mortar. 4Then they said, “Let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t become scattered all over the face of the earth.” 5The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the descendants of Adam were building.
Read all of Genesis 11Genesis 11:3 word by word
וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֗הוּ הָ֚בָה נִלְבְּנָ֣ה לְבֵנִ֔ים וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה וַתְּהִ֨י לָהֶ֤ם הַלְּבֵנָה֙ לְאָ֔בֶן וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔ר הָיָ֥ה לָהֶ֖ם לַחֹֽמֶר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And they saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- oneאִישׁ'îysh · man: anyoneH376
- to anotherרֵעַrêa‛ rêya‛ · neighborH7453
- Go toיָהַבyâhab · to giveH3051
- let us makeלָבַןlâban · to make bricksH3835
- brickלְבֵנָהlebênâh · brickH3843
- and burnשָׂרַףώâraph · to burnH8313
- them throughlyשְׂרֵפָהώerêphâh · fireH8316
- for stoneאֶ֫בֶן'eben · stoneH68
- and slimeחֵמָרchêmâr · bitumenH2564
- hadהָיָהhâyâh · to beH1961
- they for morterחֹ֫מֶרchômer · clayH2563
Cross-references for Genesis 11:3
- Genesis 11:4Then they said, “Let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t become scattered all over the face of the earth.”
- Psalms 64:5They encourage one another in their evil plans. They talk about setting traps and say, “Who can see them?”
- Proverbs 1:11If they say, “Come with us. Let’s set an ambush to kill someone. Let’s hide to ambush innocent people for fun.
- Ecclesiastes 2:1I thought to myself, “Now I want to experiment with pleasure and enjoy myself.” But even this was pointless.
- Isaiah 5:5Now then, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will tear away its hedge so that it can be devoured and tear down its wall so that it can be trampled.
- Isaiah 41:6People help their neighbors and say to their relatives, “Be brave!”
- James 4:13Pay attention to this! You’re saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money.”
- James 5:1Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you.
- Hebrews 3:13Encourage each other every day while you have the opportunity. If you do this, none of you will be deceived by sin and become stubborn.
- Hebrews 10:24We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things.
- Exodus 1:14They made their lives bitter with back-breaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard.
- Exodus 5:7“Don’t give the people any more straw to make bricks as you have been doing. Let them gather their own straw,
- 2 Samuel 12:31He brought out the troops who were there and put them to work with saws, hoes, and axes. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 9:10“Bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hand-cut stones. Fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”
- Isaiah 65:3These people constantly and openly provoked me. They offered sacrifices in gardens and burnt incense on brick altars.
- Nahum 3:14Store water for the siege! Strengthen your defenses! Step into the claypits and trample the clay! Grab the brick mold!
Commentaries on Genesis 11:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Let us make brick - It appears they were obliged to make use of brick, as there was an utter scarcity of stones in that district; and on the same account they were obliged to use slime, that is, bitumen, (Vulg). , (Septuagint) for mortar: so it appears they had neither common stone nor lime-stone; hence they had brick for stone, and asphaltus or bitumen instead of mortar.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1-9Verses 1-9 - The Confusion of Tongues 1. נסע nāsa‛ “pluck out, break up, journey.” מקדם mı̂qedem “eastward, or on the east side” as in Genesis 2:14; Genesis 13:11; Isaiah 9:11 (12). 6. החלם hachı̂lām “their beginning”, for החלם hăchı̂lām the regular form of this infinitive with a suffix. יזמוּ yāzmû as if from יזם yāzam = זמם zāmam נבלה nābelâh usually said to be for נבלה nābolâh from בלל bālal but evidently designed by the punctuator to be…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3Stone was plentiful in Canaan. In Mesopotamia, stone was rare, so they developed brick-making technology. They made tar from bitumen, a natural, waterproof asphalt similar to cement (see 6:14; Exodus 2:3).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. brick--There being no stone in that quarter, brick is, and was, the only material used for building, as appears in the mass of ruins which at the Birs Nimroud may have been the very town formed by those ancient rebels. Some of these are sun-dried--others burnt in the kiln and of different colors. slime--bitumen, a mineral pitch, which, when hardened, forms a strong cement, commonly used in Assyria to this day, and forming the mortar found on the burnt…Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 11:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Genesis 11
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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