Bible Strands
Genesis 11:3
And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The settled inhabitants of the Shinar plain address one another after arriving in the region. They propose a collaborative construction project before initiating the tower-building scheme described in the following verse.
The words — The phrase נִלְבְּנָה (nil.be.Nah) and לְבֵנִים (le.ve.Nim) literally mean "let us make bricks" and "bricks." The text states they adopt this material technology to replace traditional stone and mortar construction.
The thread — The use of brick and tar reappears in Genesis 14:10 regarding tar pits, Exodus 1:14 describing Israelite brick labor, and Exodus 2:3 where Moses’s basket is sealed with pitch. These references trace the material’s progression from practical invention to symbol of oppression and preservation.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of human ingenuity directed toward self-preservation and collective identity. It asks the reader to observe how technological solutions are deployed before divine commands are addressed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
- Exodus 1:14 and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
- Exodus 2:3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
- Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
- James 5:1 Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- 2 Samuel 12:31 David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 9:10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
- Isaiah 41:6 Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
- Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
- Genesis 11:4 “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”