Tree of Life Version
Genesis 11:3
3They said to one another, “Come! Let’s make bricks and bake them until they’re hard.” So they used bricks for stone, and tar for 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
1Now the entire earth had the same language with the same vocabulary. 2When they traveled eastward, they found a valley-plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come! Let’s make bricks and bake them until they’re hard.” So they used bricks for stone, and tar for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.” 5Then Adonai came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built.
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, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.”
- Psalms 64:5to shoot from hiding at the innocent, shooting suddenly at him, with no fear.
- Proverbs 1:11Suppose they say: “Come with us! Let’s lie in wait for blood! Let’s ambush the innocent— for no reason!
- Ecclesiastes 2:1I said within myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to see what is good.” Yet behold, this too was meaningless.
- Isaiah 5:5So now, I will make known to you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down the fence, and it will be trodden down.
- Isaiah 41:6Each one helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
- James 4:13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
- James 5:1Come now, you rich, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you.
- Hebrews 3:13But encourage one another day by day—as long as it is called “Today”—so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
- Hebrews 10:24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds.
- Exodus 1:14and made their lives bitter with hard labor with mortar and brick, doing all sorts of work in the fields. In all their labors they worked them with cruelty.
- Exodus 5:7“You are not to give the people any more straw to make bricks, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
- 2 Samuel 12:31Then he brought out the people who were there and put them to work under saws, iron threshing boards and iron axes, and assigned them to brick making; and thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 9:10Therefore Adonai raises up Rezin’s adversaries against them, and spurs on his enemies.
- Isaiah 65:3These people provoke Me continually to My face, sacrificing in gardens, burning incense on bricks,
- Nahum 3:14Draw water for a siege. Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the mud and tread mortar. Take hold of 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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