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The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Genesis 11:1-9

GENESIS—NOTE ON Genesis 11:1 The story of the Tower of Babel is more important than its length suggests. It tells of a unified humanity using all its resources to establish a city that is the antithesis of what God intended when he created the world. The city builders see themselves as establishing their own destiny without any reference to the Lord.

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See also Genesis 11:1-9 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER XI _All the inhabitants of the earth, speaking one language_ _and dwelling in one place_, 1, 2, _purpose to build a city and a tower to prevent their_ _dispersion_, 3, 4. _God confounds t...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - 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;...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 11:1-9 THE TOWER OF BABEL AND THE SCATTERING OF THE NATIONS _ 1. The unity of the nations in Shinar (Genesis 11:1)_ 2. Their attempt: “Let us make” (Genesis 11:3) 3. The divine answer: “Let...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THE CITY, THE TOWER, AND THE CONFUSION OF SPEECH. The section plainly belongs to J but not to the same stratum as the story of the Flood, nor is it consistent with the origin assigned to the various n...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    EARTH. people of the earth. Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Subject). App-6. "earth" put for inhabitants. LANGUAGE. Hebrew "lip". Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of cause); lip put for language. The cha...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _the whole earth_ i.e. the inhabitants of the whole earth, as in Genesis 10:25. _one language … one speech_ An expressive phrase, denoting that the generations of primitive man, being of one stock, co...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    THE WHOLE EARTH— All the inhabitants of the earth, before they were divided and dispersed, spoke one _common language,_ as descended from one common parent. The word, rendered _languages_ שׂפה _sapah,...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PART TWENTY-FOUR: THE BEGINNING AGAIN OF HUMAN PRESUMPTION (Genesis 11:1-9) 1. _The Story of Babel_ And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeye...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND THE WHOLE EARTH WAS OF ONE LANGUAGE, AND OF ONE SPEECH._ The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech - literally, of one lip, and of the same words. Vitringa ('De Confus. Linguarum')...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    11:1 had (d-5) Lit. 'was.' language, (e-7) Lit. 'lip.'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ALL THE HOST OF THEM] i.e. 'all the contents of heaven and earth.' It used to be conjectured that Hebrew was the primitive language of mankind, but it is now known that that language is only one bran...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    This verse tells us that all people spoke one language. But chapter 10 tells us that people spoke many languages. (See Genesis 10:5; Genesis 10:20; Genesis 10:31.) And chapter 10 is before chapter 11....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 11 THE TALL BUILDING AT BABEL V1 All the people who were on the earth had one language. They all had one set of words. V2 And men travelled from...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    XI. (1) THE WHOLE EARTH. — That is, _all mankind._ After giving the connection of the various races of the then known world, consisting of Armenia, the regions watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, the...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַֽ יְהִ֥י כָל ־הָ אָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES Genesis 11:1 Driven by the fear of another deluge, though God had given distinct assurances to the contrary, and impelled by the desire to perpetuate their name and memory to...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    In this chapter we have the account of a human movement against dispersion. The movement was one of rebellion and was frustrated by divine interposition. The divine intention was the covering of the w...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    ONE LANGUAGE"Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Speech. Probably Hebrew; in which language we have the most ancient book in the world, the work of Moses. This language has been preserved ever since, though with some alterations. Most of the orienta...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS The sacred historian relates in this Chapter an awful proof of man's fallen nature, and thereby confirms the divine declaration concerning it, that every imagination of the thoughts of his he...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    There is one characteristic of divine revelation to which attention may be profitably called as a starting point. We have to do with facts. The Bible alone is a revelation of facts, and, we can add (n...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _‘OF ONE LANGUAGE’_ ‘And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.’ Genesis 11:1 The New Testament is always converting into blessings the curses of the Old Testament. The burdens and...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    1._And the whole earth was of one language_. Whereas mention had before been made of Babylon in a single word, Moses now more largely explains whence it derived its name. For this is a truly memorable...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 10 AND 11. Chapter s 10, 11 give us the history of the world as peopled and established after the deluge, and the ways of men in this new world; the great pla...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND THE WHOLE EARTH WAS OF ONE LANGUAGE, AND OF ONE SPEECH,.... Or had been w, before the flood, and from that time to this, and still was, until the confusion took place; the account of which, and th...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. Ver. 1. _And the whole earth was of one language._] Unity without verity, is no better than conspiracy. A legion of devils could accord to...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _The whole earth was of one language_ This even heathen writers acknowledge; and that language was, probably, the Hebrew. They journeyed from the east of Shinar, where Noah had settled when he left th...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 One language in the world. 3 The building of Babel. 5 The confusion of tongues. 10 The generations of Shem. 27 The generations of Terah the father of Abram. 31 Terah goeth from Vr to Haran. 1...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Much of the explanatory matter in the preceding Chapter, as well as the mention of various languages, belongs to a later period of history, b...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The building of the Tower...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    FOURTH SECTION _The Tower of Babel, the Confusion of Languages, and the Dispersion of the Nations_ GENESIS 11:1-9 1And the whole earth was of one language [lip], and of one speech. 2And it came to p...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    BABEL: THE CITY AND THE TOWER Up to this time there was only one language. In the world today men wish they could have this advantage, but God is wiser than men. Men desire this for the very same rea...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    LANGUAGE: _ Heb._ lip SPEECH: _ Heb._ words...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-4 How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolations of the deluge were before their eyes, though they sprang from the stock of righteous...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    GENESIS CHAPTER 11. One language in the earth, GENESIS 11:1. They journey from the east, settle in a plain in the land of Shinar, GENESIS 11:2; make bricks, which they burn and use with slime, GENESIS...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    This is a chapter of very deep interest to the spiritual mind. It records two great facts, namely, the building of Babel, and the call of Abraham; or, in other words, man's effort to provide for himse...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 11:1 earth H776 one H259 language H8193 one H259 speech H1697 was - Isaiah 19:18;...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE SIN OF THE NATIONS (11:1-9). We are now to be shown why the nations divided up into different languages with the consequent suspicions, hatreds and warfares which resulted. Overall it will be seen...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    ONE LANGUAGE The history of Babel ("confusion") strikingly parallels that of the professing Church. (1) Unity (Genesis 11:1) -- the Apostolic Church (Acts 4:32); (Acts 4:33). (2) Ambition ...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 11:1 The New Testament is always converting into blessings the curses of the Old Testament. The burdens and severities of the Law are not only the types but the very substances of Gospel libe...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 11:1. From the text we gather these practical suggestions: I. Examine carefully the quality and meaning of every new plan of life. II. Beware of the sophism that Heaven helps those who help...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Failure under Noamic covenant. Tower of Babel. Scattering of the people. Ancestry of Abram. CHARACTERS: Shem, Terah, Abram, Lot, Sarai. CONCLUSION: Man ever builds under the heavens, seeki...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 11:1. _One language_ or lip. These words are to be literally understood, because it is added, God confounded their language. There has been a long and unavailing dispute whether the Chaldaic,...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Of one language_ GOD’S GIFT OF SPEECH 1_._ Language or speech God hath allowed to men as men. 2. One language did God vouchsafe to all for good. It was mainly to keep them to the Church. 3. Sin...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— The whole earth.] The then known world with all its human inhabitants. ONE LANGUAGE AND OF ONE SPEECH.] _Heb. Of one lip, and one (kind of) words._ Murphy renders, “Of one lip and one...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GENESIS 11:1 AND THE WHOLE EARTH. I_.e._ the entire population of the globe, and not simply the inhabitants of the land of Shinar (Ingiis; cf. Genesis 9:29). WAS. Prior to the dispersion s...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now in chapter eleven. The whole earth was of one language, and one speech (Genesis 11:1). Probably Hebrew because in the earlier record of the book of Genesis, the names of the people were Hebrew n...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    A.M. 1757. B.C. 2247. was. Isaiah 19:18 Zephaniah 3:9 Acts 2:6 language. Heb. lip. speech. Heb. words....

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE TOWER OF BABEL Genesis 11:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We will give some suggestion as to the connecting link between our last study, and today's. There are two outstanding considerations. 1. NOAH'S DR...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    And the whole earth was of one language — Now while they all understood one another, they would be the more capable of helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate....

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