Bible Strands
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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The people of the plain of Shinar speak to one another, after settling in a single place and beginning to make bricks (v. 3), before the LORD comes down to see what they are building (v. 5).
The words — מִגְדָּל (migdal), "tower," denotes a tall, prominent structure. The phrase "its top in the heavens" uses רֹאשׁ (rosh), "head/top," to mark the summit as the point of contact with the sky.
The thread — The impulse to "make a name for ourselves" echoes John 5:44's warning about receiving glory from one another rather than from God. The desire "not to be scattered" inverts the divine mandate to fill the earth (Gen 1:28; 9:1), and Luke 1:51 names the outcome: God scatters the proud in their thoughts.
Why it lands — The verse names a specific human impulse: building collective identity and permanence by resisting the direction God has set. It asks the reader to recognize that impulse in any project whose stated purpose is self-glorification rather than obedience.
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, 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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
- John 5:44 How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
- Luke 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
- Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.
- Daniel 4:30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Psalms 49:11 Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.
- Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- 2 Samuel 8:13 And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
- Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.
- Daniel 4:11 The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.