Bible Strands
Genesis 11:8
So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Yahweh’s direct action immediately following His declaration in Genesis 11:7 to confuse human speech at the tower site. The text describes the immediate consequence of that decree upon the unified builders.
The words — וַיָּ֨פֶץ (va.yafetz) literally means “and he scattered,” denoting Yahweh’s active dispersal of the people from that specific location over the entire earth.
The thread — The motif of divine scattering reappears in Luke 1:51, where God scatters the proud, and parallels the geographical division noted in Genesis 10:25 during Peleg’s days and the resulting nations in Genesis 10:32.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that human unity pursued through self-exaltation is terminated by sovereign intervention, resulting in the cessation of construction and the forced dispersion of peoples.
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
So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Cross-references
- Luke 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
- Genesis 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.
- Genesis 10:32 All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
- Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
- 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.”
- Genesis 11:9 That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.
- Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.