What was the sin of the people building the city and tower at Babel?

The people at Babel were not just building for shelter. They agreed together to build a city and a very high tower so they could make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered over the earth. God had told people to fill the earth, but they chose safety, fame, and unity on their own terms. Their plan showed pride and a desire to be great without listening to God. The problem was not bricks and building, but a proud heart that put human glory ahead of God’s will.

Why did God confuse the language of the people at Babel?

God saw that the people were united in a proud plan that pushed Him aside. With one language, they could keep joining together in projects that ignored His command to spread over the earth. By confusing their language, God broke their proud unity, stopped the tower, and forced them to scatter. This was judgment on their rebellion, but also a wise limit on how far their pride could go. It showed that God rules over human plans and even over speech and nations.

What is the meaning of the name Babel in this passage?

The place is called Babel because there God “confounded” or confused the language of the whole earth. The people wanted a name that would bring them glory and lasting fame, but the name they received points to confusion, not honor. The name becomes a reminder that when people unite to push against God’s ways, their plans end in disorder. What they hoped would keep them together instead became the point from which God scattered them over the face of the earth.

How does the story of Babel show God’s sovereignty over human plans?

In the story, people plan a city and tower to reach heaven, to secure their future, and to make their own name. They seem strong and united, yet God only has to “come down” and change their speech to stop the whole project. Their great design collapses at a word from Him. This shows that no matter how strong or clever human plans seem, they cannot overrule what God has said. God sets the limits, judges pride, and guides history toward His own purposes.

Why are the generations from Shem to Abram included after the Babel story?

After telling how God scattered the nations at Babel, the passage follows one family line from Shem down to Abram. This shows that while many nations were formed and languages divided, God was still at work through a particular line. The genealogy links the time after the flood to the later story of Abram. It prepares us to see how God will work through this man and his family, even after human plans at Babel failed. It underlines that God’s purpose continues through history.

Who are Terah, Abram, Sarai, and Lot in this passage?

Terah is the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Abram later becomes the central figure in the story that follows. Sarai is Abram’s wife, and the text notes that she is barren and has no child, which becomes important later. Haran, another son of Terah, dies in his homeland but is the father of Lot. Lot then travels with Abram. These people form the small family group God will use after the scattering of the nations, showing His attention to one household within the wider world.

Why did Terah take his family from Ur toward the land of Canaan?

The passage says Terah took Abram, Sarai, and Lot out of Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan, though they stopped and settled in Haran. Terah, as the head of the family, is named as the one who led the move, even though God’s call was directed to Abram. This move begins a break from their old homeland and its ways and points toward the land God would later give to Abram’s family. It shows God gently turning this family toward His purpose.

What does this passage teach about human pride and God’s response?

The builders of Babel show how human pride can grow when people trust in their own strength, numbers, and skill. They seek safety, fame, and even heaven itself by their own effort. God’s response is to bring their plans to nothing with a simple act of judgment. The scattering, the new languages, and the unfinished tower all warn that proud plans against God will fail. At the same time, the quiet genealogy and the move of Abram’s family hint that God’s patient purpose will go on, even when human pride is judged.

Gen.11.1

Genesis 11:1

NKJV

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.

The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land #Gen. 10:10; 14:1; Dan. 1:2of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower #Deut. 1:28; 9:1; Ps. 107:26whose top is in the heavens; let us make a #Gen. 6:4; 2 Sam. 8:13name for ourselves, lest we #Deut. 4:27be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 #Gen. 18:21; Ex. 3:8; 19:11, 18, 20But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

6 And the Lord said, “Indeed #Gen. 9:19; Acts 17:26the people are one and they all have #Gen. 11:1one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they #Deut. 31:21; Ps. 2:1propose to do will be withheld from them.

7 Come, #Gen. 1:26let Us go down and there #Gen. 42:23; Ex. 4:11; Deut. 28:49; Is. 33:19; Jer. 5:15confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 So #Gen. 11:4; Deut. 32:8; Ps. 92:9; (Luke 1:51)the Lord scattered them abroad from there #Gen. 10:25, 32over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.

9 Therefore its name is called Babel, #1 Cor. 14:23because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Genealogy from Shem to Abram

10 #Gen. 10:22–25; 1 Chr. 1:17This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.

11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, #Luke 3:35and begot Salah.

13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

16 #1 Chr. 1:19Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot #Luke 3:35Peleg.

17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot #Luke 3:35Serug.

21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot #Gen. 11:31; Josh. 24:2; Luke 3:34Terah.

25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and #Josh. 24:2; 1 Chr. 1:26begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah’s Descendants

27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot #Gen. 11:31; 17:5Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.

28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was #Gen. 17:15; 20:12Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, #Gen. 22:20, 23; 24:15Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

30 But#Gen. 16:1, 2; Luke 1:36 Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah #Gen. 12:1took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from #Gen. 15:7; Neh. 9:7; Acts 7:4Ur of the Chaldeans to go to #Gen. 10:19the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.

32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.