As they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
Parallel Translations
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As they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
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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.
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And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Genesis 11:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 10:10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
- Daniel 1:2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god. He brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
- Genesis 14:1 In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Tidal, king of Goiim,
- Isaiah 11:11 It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- Zechariah 5:11 He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”
- Genesis 13:11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one other.
- Genesis 11:9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2. They found a plain in the land of…
2. They found a plain in the land of Shinar. It may be conjectured from these words, that Moses speaks of Nimrod and of the people whom he had collected around him. If, however, we grant that Nimrod was the chief leader in the construction of so great a pile, for the purpose of erecting a formidable monument of his tyranny: yet Moses expressly relates, that the work was undertaken not by the counsel or the will of one man only, but that all conspired together, so that the blame cannot be cast exclusively upon one, nor even upon a few.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain In the year one hundred and thirty after the…
In the year one hundred and thirty after the flood.
Which was afterward called Chaldea.
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That is, from Armenia where the Ark stayed.
To wit, Nimrod and his company.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 11:2 And it came to pass, as they…
Gen 11:2 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.
Ver. 2. In the land of Shinar.] Which was a part of the garden of Eden, as most geographers think, fat and fruitful still above belief (Herodot. lib. i. cap. 93; Plin. lib. vi. cap. 26).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As they journeyed from the east, i.e. Nimrod and…
As they journeyed from the east, i.e. Nimrod and the rest of his confederates of Ham's posterity; not from Armenia, where the ark rested, which was north from Babel, and is called north in Scripture, as Jer 25:9; 26, &c.; but from Assyria, into which they had before come from the mountains of Ararat for more convenient habitation. It may be rendered to the east; but that manner of translation is neither usual nor necessary here.
The land of Shinar, where Babel was, Gen 10:10.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it came to pass, as they journeyed from…
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east,.... That is, the inhabitants of the whole earth; not Ham and his posterity only, or Nimrod and his company; but as all the sons of Noah and his posterity for a while dwelt together, or at least very near each other, and finding the place where they were too scanty for them, as their several families increased, they set out in a body from the place where they were, to seek for a more convenient one: it seems a little difficult how to interpret this phrase, "from the east", since if they came from Ararat in Armenia, where the ark rested, as that lay north of Shinar or Babylon, they might rather be said to come from the north than from the east, and rather came to it than from it: so some think the phrase should be rendered, "to the east" (b), or eastward, as in Gen 13:11. Jarchi thinks this refers to Gen 10:30 "and their dwelling was", &c. at "the mountain of the east"; from whence he supposes they journeyed, to find out a place that would hold them all, but could find none but Shinar; but then this restrains it to Joktan's sons, and besides, their dwelling there was not until after the confusion and dispersion. But it is very probable the case was this, that when Noah and his sons came out of the ark, in a little time they betook themselves to their former habitation, from whence they had entered into the ark, namely, to the east of the garden of Eden, where was the appearance of the divine Presence, or Shechinah; and from hence it was that these now journeyed: and so it was as they were passing on:
that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; which the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases the land of Babylon; and Hestiaeus (c), a Phoenician historian, calls it Sennaar of Babylon; there are plain traces of this name in the Singara of Ptolemy (d) and Pliny (e), the Hebrew letter being sometimes pronounced as "G", as in Gaza and Gomorrah; the first of these place a city of this name in Mesopotamia, near the Tigris, and that of the other is reckoned a capital of the Rhetavi, a tribe of the Arabs, near Mesopotamia. This plain was very large, fruitful, and delightful, and therefore judged a fit place for a settlement, where they might have room enough, and which promised them a sufficient sustenance:
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and they dwelt there; and provided for their continuance, quickly beginning to build a city and tower, afterwards called Babylon: and that Babylon was built in a large plain is not only here asserted, but is confirmed by Herodotus (f), who says of it, that it lay , in a vast plain, and so Strabo (g); which was no other than the plain of Shinar.
(b) "ad Orientem, sive Orientem versus"; so some in Schmidt. Vid. Drusium in loc. & Fuller. Miscell. Sacr. l. 1. c. 4. (c) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 4. sect. 3. (d) Geograph. l. 5. c. 18. (e) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 24. (f) Clio sive, l. 1. c. 178. (g) Geograph. l. 16. p. 508.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And they found a plain in the land of…
And they found a plain in the land of Shinar - A spacious plain, able to contain them all.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. As they journeyed from the east] Assyria,…
Verse 2. As they journeyed from the east] Assyria, Mesopotamia, and the country on the borders and beyond the Euphrates, are called the east in the sacred writings. Balaam said that the king of Moab had brought him from the mountains of the east, Nu 23:7.
Now it appears, from Nu 22:5, that Balaam dwelt at Pethor, on the river Euphrates. And it is very probable that it was from this country that the wise men came to adore Christ; for it is said they came from the east to Jerusalem, Mt 2:1. Abraham is said to have come from the east to Canaan, Isa 41:2; but it is well known that he came from Mesopotamia and Chaldea. Isa 46:11, represents Cyrus as coming from the east against Babylon. And the same prophet represents the Syrians as dwelling eastward of Jerusalem, Isa 9:12: The Syrians before, מקדם mikkedem, from the east,the same word which Moses uses here. Daniel Da 11:44, represents Antiochus as troubled at news received from the east; i.e. of a revolt in the eastern provinces, beyond the Euphrates.
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Noah and his family, landing after the flood on one of the mountains of Armenia, would doubtless descend and cultivate the valleys: as they increased, they appear to have passed along the banks of the Euphrates, till, at the time specified here, they came to the plains of Shinar, allowed to be the most fertile country in the east. See Calmet. That Babel was built in the land of Shinar we have the authority of the sacred text to prove; and that Babylon was built in the same country we have the testimony of Eusebius, Praep. Evang., lib. ix., c. 15; and Josephus, Antiq., lib. i., c. 5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The East: Armenia, which lies to the eastward of…
The East: Armenia, which lies to the eastward of Babylonia, whither they directed their course in quest of provisions for themselves and cattle, being now grown pretty numerous. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain land of Shinar--The fertile valley watered by the Euphrates…
land of Shinar--The fertile valley watered by the Euphrates and Tigris was chosen as the center of their union and the seat of their power.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. As they journeyed — Literally, in their breaking…
2. As they journeyed — Literally, in their breaking up (their encampments;) as they struck their tents and slowly moved with flocks and herds from day to day. The word sets forth the leisurely movements of a nomadic company. It is not necessary to suppose that the whole human race were in this movement. Noah and Shem, who were probably living at the time, would hardly sympathize in the godless enterprise about to be described.
From the east — Or better, as the margin, eastward. Comp. Jos_7:2; Jdg_8:11. They slowly moved from the table-land of Armenia, eastwardly and southerly, along the Euphrates valley to the rich alluvial plain… of Shinar, the region afterwards known as Chaldea and Babylonia. Here was a fertile country in a genial climate, offering a delightful place for permanent residence.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. as they journeyed] We are not told who…
2. as they journeyed] We are not told who are here spoken of, nor whence they come. This is an indication that this passage (1–9) is derived from an independent tradition distinct from the thread of the foregoing narrative. Like Gen_4:17-24, and Gen_6:1-4, it is probably a fragment of tradition which had no knowledge of the story of the Flood, or of the dispersion of the peoples through the sons of Noah.
journeyed] A word denoting the progress of nomads from one place of encampment to another.
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east] Better, as marg., in the east. The Hebrew word means literally “from the east,” as also LXX ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, and Lat. de oriente, and here probably signifies “in the east,” i.e. on the east side from the writer’s point of view. Some translate “eastward,” as in Gen_13:11, where Lot, on leaving Abram, is described as journeying “eastward.” But, as we do not know who are referred to, or where they started from, the uncertainty as to the rendering remains.
a plain in the land of Shinar] For Shinar, probably denoting the ancient Babylonia, “Sumer and Akkad,” see Gen_10:10. The word “plain” (biḳ‘ah) means the wide open expanse of a river valley. Here it is used of the Euphrates Valley. The expression, “found a plain in the land of Shinar,” does not suggest close knowledge of Babylonia; but rather the general terms of popular and defective information respecting a distant country. Babylonia is one vast plain.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) As they journeyed.—The word literally refers to the…
(2) As they journeyed.—The word literally refers to the pulling up of the tent-pegs, and sets the human family before us as a band of nomads, wandering from place to place, and shifting their tents as their cattle needed fresh pasture.
From the east.—So all the versions. Mount Ararat was to the north-west of Shinar, and while so lofty a mountain could not have been the spot where the ark rested, yet neither could any portion of Armenia or of the Carduchian mountains be described as to the east of Babylonia. The Chaldean legends make the ark rest on Mount Nizir, or Elwend, on the east of Assyria; and though Ararat may possibly signify Aryaverta, “Holy Land,” yet the transference of the name from Elwend to Armenia is not easily explicable. Moreover, the Bible elsewhere seems to point to Armenia as the cradle of the human race. Most modern commentators, therefore, translate eastward, and such certainly is the meaning of the word in Gen_13:11, where also the versions, excepting our own, render from the east.
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Land of Shinar.—See on Gen_10:10. The whole of Chaldea is a level plain, and the soil immensely rich, as it is an alluvial deposit, which still goes on forming at the head of the Persian Gulf, at the rate of a mile in a period estimated at from seventy to thirty years (Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., i. 4). A strip of land 130 miles in breadth has been added to the country, by the deposit of the earth washed down by the Tigris and Euphrates, since the time when Ur of the Chaldees was a great port.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And it came to pass, as they journeyed. Literally,…
And it came to pass, as they journeyed. Literally, in their journeyings. The root (qg; to pull up, as, e.g., the stakes of a tent when a camp moves, (Isa_33:20) suggests the idea of the migration of nomadic hordes (cf. Gen_12:9 Gen_33:17) From the east. Ab oriente (Ancient Versions, Calvin, et alii), meaning either that they started from Armenia, which was in the east respectu terrae Canaan (Luther), or from that portion of the Assyrian empire which was east of the Tigris, and called Orientalis, as distinguished from the Occidentalis on the west (Bochart); or that they first traveled westwards, following the direction of the Euphrates in one of its upper branches (Bush); or that, having roamed to the east of Shinar, they ultimately returned occidentem versus (Junius). The phrase, however, is admitted to be more correctly rendered ad orientem (Drusius, Lange, Keil, Murphy), as in Gen_13:11. Kalisch interprets generally in oriente, agreeing with Luther that the migrations are viewed by the writer as taking place in the east; while T. Lewis prefers to read from one front part (the original meaning of kedem) to another onwards. That they found a plain hqBi not a valley between mountain ranges, as in Deu_8:7 Deu_11:11; on Psa_104:8, but a widely-extended plain (pedi LXX), like that in which Babylon was situated (Herod., lib. 1:178, keetai ejn pediw megalw; cf. Strabo, lib. 2:109). In the land of Shinar. Babylonia (cf. Gen_10:10) The derivation of the term is unknown (Gesenius), though it probably meant the land of the two rivers (Alford). Its absence from ancient monuments (Rawlinson) suggests that it was the Jewish name for Chaldaea. And they dwelt there.
Ver. 2. Note
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1. The benefit of a wandering condition. It sometimes prevents the rise of sinful thoughts and wicked deeds. So long as the primitive nomads were travelling from station to station they did not think of either rebellion or ambition. So Israel followed God fully in the wilderness.
2. The danger of a settled state. Established in the fat plain of Shinar, they wanted a city and a tower. So Israel in Canaan waxed fat and kicked. So Moab, having been at ease from his youth, retained his scent unchanged. So comfortable surroundings often lead men from God. W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 11:2 migrated to the east: See study note on…
11:2 migrated to the east: See study note on 3:24. • Babylonia was located in southern Mesopotamia, the region of Nimrod’s later empire and city-building campaign (see 10:10; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2; Zech 5:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.