Genesis 11:1-3

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Tower of Babel

11 ^[a]Now the whole earth had one language and few words. ²And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

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Footnotes

11.1-9 The tower of Babel (= Babylon) is taken as a symbol of political power, empire-building, and the civilization that opposes God’s plan. The tower was probably a ziggurat, i.e., Babylonian temple.

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.