Genesis 11:1-3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 11:1 sn 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, ” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.
2. Genesis 11:1 tn 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. Genesis 11:2 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4. Genesis 11:2 tn Or perhaps “from the east” (NRSV) or “in the east.”
5. Genesis 11:2 tn Heb “in the land of Shinar.”sn Shinar is the region of Babylonia.
6. Genesis 11:3 tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”
7. Genesis 11:3 tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilb^enah l^evenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisr^efah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).
8. Genesis 11:3 tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).
9. Genesis 11:3 tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.