Genesis 11:5
New International Version
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

New Living Translation
But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building.

English Standard Version
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

King James Bible
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

New King James Version
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

New American Standard Bible
Now the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the men had built.

NASB 1995
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

NASB 1977
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

Amplified Bible
Now the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

Christian Standard Bible
Then the LORD came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then the LORD came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building.

American Standard Version
And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And LORD JEHOVAH came down to see the city and the tower that the children of men were building.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men built.

Contemporary English Version
But when the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

English Revised Version
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the descendants of Adam were building.

Good News Translation
Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which they had built,

International Standard Version
However, the LORD descended to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

Literal Standard Version
And YHWH comes down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have built;

Majority Standard Bible
Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

New American Bible
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.

NET Bible
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.

New Revised Standard Version
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.

New Heart English Bible
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, that humankind was building.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men were building.

World English Bible
Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah cometh down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have builded;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Tower of Babel
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.” 5Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. 6And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.…

Cross References
Genesis 18:21
I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out."

Exodus 3:8
I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Exodus 19:11
and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Exodus 19:18
Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.


Treasury of Scripture

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Genesis 18:21
I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

Exodus 19:11
And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

Psalm 11:4
The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

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Genesis 11
1. One language in the world.
2. The building of Babel.
5. It is interrupted by the confusion of tongues, and the builders dispersed.
10. The generations of Shem.
27. The generations of Terah, the father of Abram.
31. Terah, with Abram and Lot, move from Ur to Haran.














(5-7) The Lord came down.--The narrative is given in that simple anthropological manner usual in the Book of Genesis, which so clearly sets before us God's loving care of man, and here and in Genesis 18:21 the equity of Divine justice. For Jehovah is described as a mighty king, who, hearing in His upper and heavenly dwelling of man's ambitious purpose, determines to go and inspect the work in person, that having seen, he may deal with the offenders justly. He views, therefore, "the city and the tower;" for the city was as important a portion of their purpose as the tower, or even more so. The tower, which, no doubt, was to be the citadel and protection of the city, was for the latter's sake to give the people a sense of strength and security. Having, then, inspected the tower and the city nestling round it, the Deity affirms that this centralisation is injurious to man's best interests, and must be counteracted by an opposite principle, namely, the tendency of mankind to make constant changes in language, and thereby to break up into different communities, kept permanently apart by the use of different tongues. At present "it is one people, and there is one lip to all of them, and this is what they begin to do," &c. Already there are thoughts among them of universal empire, and if thus the spread of mankind be hindered, and its division into numerous nations, each contributing its share to the progress and welfare of the world, be stopped, man will remain a poor debased creature, and will fail utterly in accomplishing the purpose for which he was placed upon earth. "Go to," therefore, He says, in irony of their twice repeated phrase, "we will go down, and make their speech unintelligible to one another." Now, though there is no assertion of a miracle here, yet we may well believe that there was an extraordinary quickening of a natural law which existed from the first. This, however, is but a secondary question, and the main fact is the statement that the Divine means for counteracting man's ambitious and ever-recurring dream of universal sovereignty is the law of diversity of speech. In ancient times there was little to counteract this tendency, and each city and petty district had its own dialect, and looked with animosity upon its neighbours who differed from it in pronunciation, if not in vocabulary. In the present day there are counteracting influences; and great communities, by the use of the same Bible and the possession of the same classical literature, may long continue to speak the same language. In days also when communication is so easy, not only do men travel much, but newspapers and serials published at the centre are dispersed to the most distant portions of the world. In old time it was not so, and probably Isaiah would not have been easily understood thirty miles from Jerusalem, nor Demosthenes a few leagues; from Athens. Without books or literature, a little-band of families wandering about with their cattle, with no communication with other tribes, would quickly modify both the grammar and the pronunciation of their language; and when, after a year or two, they revisited the tower, they would feel like foreigners in the new city, and quickly depart with the determination never to return. And to this day diversity of language is a powerful factor in keeping nations apart, or in preventing portions of the same kingdom from agreeing heartily together. And thus at Babel the first attempt to bind the human family into one whole came to an ignominious end.

Verse 5. - And the Lord came down. Not in visible form, as in Exodus 19:20; Exodus 34:5 (Onkelos), but "effectu ostendens se propin quiorem quem absentem esse judicabant" (Poole), an anthropomorphism (cf. Genesis 18:21; Psalm 144:5). "It is measure for measure (par pari). Let us build up, say they, and scale the heavens. Let us go down, says God, and defeat their impious thought" (Rabbi Schelomo, quoted by T. Lewis). To see (with a view to judicial action) the city and the tower which the children of men - sons of Adam; neither the posterity of Cain, i.e. the Hamites exclusively, as the Sethites were called sons of God, Genesis 6:2 (Augustine), nor wicked men in general (Junius, Piscator), imitators of Adam, i.e. rebellantes Dee (Mode, Lyre), since then the Shemites would not have been participators in the undertaking (Drusius), which some think, to have been their work exclusively (Inglis); but the members of the human race, or at least their leaders - builded.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then the LORD
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

came down
וַיֵּ֣רֶד (way·yê·reḏ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

to see
לִרְאֹ֥ת (lir·’ōṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 7200: To see

the city
הָעִ֖יר (hā·‘îr)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5892: Excitement

and the tower
הַמִּגְדָּ֑ל (ham·miḡ·dāl)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4026: A tower, a rostrum, a, bed of flowers

that
אֲשֶׁ֥ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

the sons
בְּנֵ֥י (bə·nê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of men
הָאָדָֽם׃ (hā·’ā·ḏām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

were building.
בָּנ֖וּ (bā·nū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1129: To build


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OT Law: Genesis 11:5 Yahweh came down to see the city (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 11:4
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