GEN 11:4 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Then they said, “Come on, let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky, and let’s make a reputation for ourselves, so that we don’t get scattered all over the whole earth.”

Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Καὶ εἶπαν, δεῦτε οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πόλιν καὶ πύργον, οὗ ἔσται ἡ κεφαλὴ ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ποιήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς ὄνομα, πρὸ τοῦ διασπαρῆναι ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ προσώπου πάσης τῆς γῆς.
(Kai eipan, deute oikodomaʸsōmen heautois polin kai purgon, hou estai haʸ kefalaʸ heōs tou ouranou, kai poiaʸsōmen heautois onoma, pro tou diasparaʸnai haʸmas epi prosōpou pasaʸs taʸs gaʸs. )

BrTr And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name, before we are scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth.

ULT Then they said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

UST Then they urged each other, “Come on, we should work together and build a city for us to live in that has a very tall building that reaches high into the sky. That way we will become famous, and we will not separate from each other and live all over the earth.”

BSB § “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.”

OEB They said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will touch the heavens. We will make a landmark, so that we are not scattered over all the earth.’

WEBBE They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”

LSV And they say, “Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower with its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

FBV Then they said, “Now let's build a city for ourselves with a tower whose top reaches the heavens. That way we'll gain a great reputation and we won't end up being scattered all over the world.”

T4T They said, “Hey, let’s build a city for ourselves! We also ought to build a very high tower that reaches up to the sky! In that way we will become famous! If we do not do this, we will be scattered all over the earth!”

LEB And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

BBE And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.

Moff No Moff GEN book available

JPS And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'

ASV And they said, Come, 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.

DRA And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

YLT And they say, 'Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.'

Drby And they said, Come on, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, the top of which [may reach] to the heavens; and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

RV 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.

Wbstr And they said, come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we should be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

KJB-1769 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.

KJB-1611 And they said; Goe to, let vs build vs a city and a tower, whose top may reach vnto heauen, and let vs make vs a name, lest we be scattered abroad vpon the face of the whole earth.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps And they sayd: Go to, let vs buylde vs a citie and a towre, whose toppe may reache vnto heauen, and let vs make vs a name, lest peraduenture we be scattered abrode into the vpper face of the whole earth.
(And they said: Go to, let us build us a city and a towre, whose top may reache unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest peradventure/perhaps we be scattered abroad into the upper face of the whole earth.)

Gnva Also they said, Goe to, let vs builde vs a citie and a towre, whose top may reache vnto the heauen, that we may get vs a name, lest we be scattered vpon the whole earth.
(Also they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a towre, whose top may reache unto the heaven, that we may get us a name, lest we be scattered upon the whole earth. )

Cvdl And sayde: Come, let vs buylde a cite & a tower, whose toppe maye reach vnto heaue, yt we maye make vs a name, afore we be scatred abrode in all londes.
(And said: Come, let us build a cite and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, it we may make us a name, afore we be scattered abroad in all londes.)

Wycl and seiden, Come ye, and make we to vs a citee and tour, whos hiynesse stretche `til to heuene; and make we solempne oure name bifor that we be departid in to alle londis.
(and said, Come ye/you_all, and make we to us a city and tour, whos hiynesse stretche `til to heaven; and make we solemn our name before that we be departed in to all londis.)

Luth und sprachen: Wohlauf, laßt uns eine Stadt und Turm bauen, des Spitze bis an den Himmel reiche, daß wir uns einen Namen machen; denn wir werden vielleicht zerstreuet in alle Länder.
(and said: Wohlauf, laßt us/to_us/ourselves one city and Turm bauen, the Spitze until at the heaven reiche, that we/us us/to_us/ourselves a name(s) machen; because we/us become vielleicht zerstreuet in all Länder.)

ClVg et dixerunt: Venite, faciamus nobis civitatem et turrim, cujus culmen pertingat ad cælum: et celebremus nomen nostrum antequam dividamur in universas terras.
(and dixerunt: Come, faciamus us civitatem and turrim, cuyus culmen pertingat to the_sky: and celebremus nomen nostrum before dividamur in universas terras. )

TTN Tyndale Theme Notes:

Babel: The Dispersion of Nations

The story of the tower of Babel, whose peak was to reach to heaven, explains how nations and ethnic groups were separated by language barriers and scattered geographically. After the Flood, when God had judged an exceedingly wicked human race, humans again rebelled against their Creator by constructing a tower “that reaches into the sky” (Gen 11:4). Instead of worshiping the Lord, their intention was to exalt themselves and unify themselves apart from the Lord. God saw the danger that this posed: Their independence and arrogance would set them right back into a whirlpool of wickedness and, ultimately, destruction. So God intervened to “confuse the people with different languages” (11:7) and “[scatter] them all over the world” (11:9). Babel thus begins the history of differences and misunderstandings between peoples and nations who cannot understand one another’s languages and cultures—a separation that only begins to be reversed with the coming of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2).

After the dispersion of the nations at Babel, God renewed his relationship with humanity in Abraham and his descendants (Gen 12:1-9). In contrast with the people at Babel, Abraham was righteous because he “believed the Lord” and lived by faith in God rather than pride in his accomplishments (15:6; 17:1; 18:19; 26:5).

Passages for Further Study

Gen 11:1-9

UTN uW Translation Notes:

וַ⁠יֹּאמְר֞וּ

and=they_said

Alternate translation: “Then they said to each other,”

הָ֣בָ⁠ה

come=now!

See how you translated this idiom in verse 3.

נִבְנֶה

let_us_build

See how you translated a similar phrase in verse 3. Alternate translation: “let us work together and build”

וּ⁠מִגְדָּל֙

and=(a)_tower

Alternate translation: “that has a high tower” or “with a very tall building”

וְ⁠רֹאשׁ֣⁠וֹ בַ⁠שָּׁמַ֔יִם

and=his/its=head/top in=the_heavens

Alternate translation: “that reaches high into the heavens” or “that reaches up to heaven,”

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וְ⁠נַֽעֲשֶׂה לָּ֖⁠נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן נָפ֖וּץ

and=we_may_make to/for=ourselves name_of lest we_be_scattered

The phrase make a name for ourselves is a idiom. Consider whether or not your language has a similar idiom that would work well here. Also see how you translated the word scattered in Gen 10:18, 32. Alternate translation: “We should do that to make ourselves famous and to keep us from spreading out” or “That way we will become well-known and we will not separate from each other and live”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

עַל פְּנֵ֥י כָל הָ⁠אָֽרֶץ

on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in face/surface_of all the=earth/land

Alternate translation: “all over the world.” or “around the world.”

Parallel GEN 11:4