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. (Genesis 11:4 KJV)
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. (Genesis 11:4 ASV)
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. (Genesis 11:4 DBY)
They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4 WEB)
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.'(Genesis 11:4 YLT)
Interlinear
And they said, <‘amar> Go to, <yahab> let us build <banah> us a city <`iyr> and a tower, <migdal> whose top <ro’sh> may reach unto heaven; <shamayim> and let us make <`asah> us a name, <shem> lest we be scattered abroad <puwts> upon the face <paniym> of the whole earth. <‘erets> (Genesis 11:4 KJV)
Patrick/Lowth/Whitby/Lowman Commentary
And they said, Go to, At the first, perhaps, they spake only of building themselves houses; but now they laid their heads together, and consulted to make a huge monument of their greatness.
A city and a tower, Some fancy one thing to be expressed in two words: “a city and a tower,” being a city with turrets. But both this verse and the next express them so severally, that we ought to think them to have been distinct. Yet, that the tower was part of the city, is plain by verse 8, where it is said, “they left off to build the city,” making no mention of the tower: which was contained in the city, as a part of it; and may well be thought to have been the Acropolis (as the Greeks speak), a strong place in the highest part of the city such as we call a citadel. For the Scripture by a tower, means some fortress to keep out an enemy, which was wont to be built in the midst of the city, that it might command every part of it.
Some fancy the temple of Belus, before mentioned, was afterward built where this tower stood; and was nothing else but the tower perfected for another use. Or, rather, a temple was built round about the tower, which stood in the midst of it, as Herodotus describes it (lib. 1), (not available), &c “in the midst of the temple was a strong tower,” &c.
Whose top may reach into heaven; i.e. To the clouds. As much as to say, an exceeding high tower. For the same is said of the walls of the cities of Canaan, De 1:28; 2:1, and therefore can mean no more here. And is a usual phrase in Scripture; as when the Psalmist says, they that sail upon the sea are sometime lifted up to heaven Ps 107:25, which is a language that other authors speak; for Homer mentions a fir tree which was (not available), extended to heaven, i. e. very tall. Which I note to show the senseless spite of Julian the apostate, who endeavoured to discredit this sacred story, by the poetical fiction of the giants warring with heaven: as if there were no more truth in the one than in the other. But St. Cyril, in his fourth book against him, truly observes, that in Scripture, this phrase. (not available), to heaven, is; put (not available), for that which is highly elevated as this tower was. Which being half a quarter of a mile in breadth and length had another tower stood upon it; and a third upon that, and so on, (not available), (as Herodotus speaks), “till there were eight towers in all:” which made it of a vast height.
Let us make us a name, &c. Here he plainly acquaints as with their intention in building this city and tower: which was to be a perpetual monument of their fame; to spread it far and wide, while they were alive; and that their names might live in this they were dead: all posterity saying, such and such persons were the founders of the first and mother city of the world. So David is said to have got himself a name 2Sa 8:13, i.e. extended his fame by his great achievements. And God is said to do the same Isa 63:12,14. Therefore there was no occasion for assigning other reasons for the building of this tower, when Moses gives one so clearly. That which hath been commonly fancied is, that they might secure themselves against another inundation: from which they were secured by the Divine promise (if they would believe it), together with the addition of a sign to it Ge 9:12. And, if they did not believe it, why did they come down from the mountains into the plain county to build this tower; which might more rationally have been erected upon the top of the highest mountains, if their meaning had been, by this means, to preserve themselves from future floods? If there were any other meaning besides that mentioned by Moses, I should think that most probable which I find in Dr. Jackson (book 1 on the Creed, ch. 16). That it might be “a refuge whereunto they might resort, and continue their combination:” something of which seems to be intimated in the next words. There is a conjecture also made a most worthy friend of mine, a good while ago, Dr. Tenison, now bishop of Lincoln, in his book of Idolatry (which is not inconsistent with these), that this tower was consecrated by the builders of it to the sun as the cause of drying up the waters of the deluge, (rather, as the most illustrious and nearest resemblance of the Shechinab, as I noted on ch. 4.), and that it was intended as an altar whereon to sacrifice to it. But it is propounded only as a conjecture; which those Jews seem also to have had in their minds, who, by the word Shem (name), understand God: as if their meaning were, “let us make us a god;” and raise him a temple. And perhaps future times did convert it to that use.
Lest we be scattered abroad, &c. Here they speak as if they feared a dispersion; but it is hard to tell from what cause unless it were this, that Noah having projected a division of the earth among his posterity (for it was a deliberate business, as I noted upon 10.5), these people had no mind to submit unto it; and therefore built this fortress to defend themselves in their resolution of not yielding to his design. Thus the most learned Usher (ad A. M. 1757). But what they dreaded they brought upon themselves by their own vain attempt to avoid it: and now there is no memory preserved of the names of those that conspired in this attempt. Thus what Solomon saith, was long before verified Pr 10:24. “The fear of the wicked shall come upon him.” But this evil by God’s providence was attended with a great good; for by this dispersion the whole earth was peopled, and the foundation laid of several great nations and kingdoms.