Genesis 11:2

They were going eastwards a bit at a time. They came to a big plain in the east. The name of that country was Shinar.

Nyangumarta (portions)

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

1After that for a long time people were talking just that one language.

3They ignored God's word. They said to one another, “Let's not spread out/scatter in all directions. Let's stay united. Let's stay right here, without roaming. Let's make a big camp, let's make a big hill-like (thing) also, extremely big upwards, right up to the sky. Everyone else will talk about us. They will say, 'Those people in Shinar are clever, they are truly smart'.” They got mud, they made bricks, they baked them in the fire to make them hard, they made very many. Joining them they glued them with bitumen. They built, they built. (i.e., they kept building for a long time.)

Read all of Genesis 11

Cross References

Genesis 13:11Lot chose that very country. He went east. In that way Abram and Lot separated.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 11:2-5

The Confusion of Tongues. ( b. c. 2247.) 1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 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. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 11:2