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Genesis 11 · a question people ask

"Come, let's go down." Who is God speaking to?

Interpretation

The text doesn't say. It's the same kind of plural as "Let’s make man in our image" (1:26) and "the man has become like one of us" (3:22), and the same readings are offered for all three.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

The Trinity

Father, Son and Spirit. The Spirit is present in creation (1:2), and the New Testament says all things were made through the Son (John 1:3).

Genesis 1:2 · John 1:3

The heavenly court

God speaking with the angels around his throne, as in 1 Kings 22:19-20.

1 Kings 22:19-20

A way of speaking

A plural of majesty or of deliberation: God speaking this way as he decides and announces what he will do.

Genesis 11:7 · Genesis 1:26

The verses

“Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.””
Genesis 11:7 · World English Bible
“God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””
Genesis 1:26 · World English Bible
“The LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—””
Genesis 3:22 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 11

Genesis 11: A name for ourselves

The builders of Babel wanted to make a name for themselves and not be scattered; God came down, confused their language, and scattered them. Then the story narrows to one family, Shem's line to Abram, and a wife with no child, and it will be God who makes Abram's name great.

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions