What Does Genesis 11:5 Mean?
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.THE KEY
In Hebrew, “sons” and “they built” echo the building-root, so the tower becomes a picture of humanity constructing itself.
THE MEANING
The LORD comes down to see closely what you build; no height places human work outside divine attention. The builders are called בְּנֵי הָאָדָם (benei ha’adam, sons of the human), ground-born people raising a structure toward the heavens.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what you build can lift you beyond God’s sight dissolves here: the LORD comes down to see it.
THE ROOT
בָּנוּ
banu
GROWS FROM
בנה
To build, establish, or build up a structure or family line.
“builded” in this verse is banu. The Hebrew בְּנֵי הָאָדָם (benei ha’adam, sons of the human) names the builders as ground-born humanity: אָדָם (adam, human) is linked with אֲדָמָה (adamah, ground or soil). בָּנוּ (banu, they built) echoes בֵּן (ben, son), traditionally linked to בנה (banah, build), so the sons and their construction share the language of building.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son; one who continues a family line.
בֵּן
Traditionally linked to בנה (banah, build), this word makes the verse’s “sons of men” echo the act of building.
binyan: Building or structure.
בִּנְיָן
This branch makes the shared root visible in the city and tower the sons construct.
THE PATTERN
Human structures cannot contain or outrun the one who sees them.
The LORD gazes from the heavens; he sees all the children of humankind.Thus says the LORD. The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build for me? And where is the place of my rest?God, who made the world and all that is within it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not settle in handmade temples.THE THREAD
And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, the LORD has held me shut from bearing. Go in, I pray you, to my handmaid. Perhaps I may be built through her. And Abram heard and responded to the voice of Sarai.The phrase “obtain children” translates אִבָּנֶה (ʾibbāneh, I may be built up), from בנה (banah, build). The same root describes a city rising here and a family line taking shape there.
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