^11:1The whole earth¹ had a common language and a common vocabulary.²^11:2When the people³ moved eastward,⁴ they found a plain in Shinar⁵ and settled there. ^11:3Then they said to one another,⁶ “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.”⁷ (They had brick instead of stone and tar⁸ instead of mortar.)⁹

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Footnotes

1 The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1–9,” 138 (1981): .
2 Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.
3 Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 Or perhaps “from the east” () or “in the east.”
5 Heb “in the land of Shinar.” Shinar is the region of Babylonia.
6 Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”
7 The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbénah lévenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisréfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [], ).
8 Or “bitumen” (cf. , ).
9 The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.)

NLTNew Living Translation

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar.

KJV 1900King James Version

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

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