Kejadian 11:2
Konteks11:2 When the people 1 moved eastward, 2 they found a plain in Shinar 3 and settled there.
Kejadian 11:4
Konteks11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens 4 so that 5 we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise 6 we will be scattered 7 across the face of the entire earth.”
Kejadian 13:12
Konteks13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain 8 and pitched his tents next to Sodom.
[11:2] 1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[11:2] 2 tn Or perhaps “from the east” (NRSV) or “in the east.”
[11:2] 3 tn Heb “in the land of Shinar.”
[11:2] sn Shinar is the region of Babylonia.
[11:4] 4 tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.
[11:4] 5 tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.
[11:4] 6 tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”
[11:4] 7 sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.
[13:12] 8 tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.