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Genesis 11:3

EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible):

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them well.” They used bricks instead of stones, and tar for mortar.

EOB Footnote:

The MT includes the phrase “one to another” (literally “a man to his neighbor”) which appears in the LXX as “each one to his neighbor.” The MT also includes the emphatic construction “let us burn them thoroughly” (literally “let us burn to a burning”), which the LXX renders more simply as “let us burn.” The MT specifies “brick” as singular in the first instance and “bricks” as plural in the second, while the LXX uses plural forms throughout. The phrase “and let us bake them” in the MT uses an intensive verbal form emphasizing thoroughness of the burning process.

Other Translations:

KJV (King James Version):

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

WEB (World English Bible):

They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

Benton LXX (Vaticanus):

And they said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire.” And the brick was to them for stone, and their mortar was bitumen.

Douai-Rheims (Vulgate):

And they said one to another: Come, let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar.

Apostoliki Diakonia (LXX):

They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

YLT (Young Literal Translation )(MT):

And they said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and slime they had for mortar.

BBE (Bible in Basic English):

And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, and they used bitumen for mortar.

EOB COMMENTARY:

EOB Commentary:

Genesis 11:3 – Commentary

The Brick and the Stone

This verse marks a significant moment in the narrative of Babel, where humanity substitutes natural stone with manufactured brick and natural morite (bitumen or slime) for mortar. The Fathers see in this substitution a profound spiritual meaning that resonates throughout Scripture and into the life of the Church.

Patristic Interpretation: Saint Ephrem the Syrian notes that the builders of Babel rejected what God had provided naturally in favor of their own human constructions. This represents the fundamental error of pride—the belief that human ingenuity can improve upon or replace divine provision. The brick, formed by human hands and fired in kilns, symbolizes the works of man apart from God, while natural stone throughout Scripture represents divine foundation and stability.

Christological Significance: The contrast between brick and stone finds its ultimate resolution in Christ, whom Saint Peter identifies as the “living stone” (1 Peter 2:4) and the “chief cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6). Where Babel’s builders rejected God’s stone for their own bricks, the Church is built upon the true Stone rejected by the builders. Christ Himself declares that upon the rock (petra) of Peter’s confession, He will build His Church (Matthew 16:18). The artificial unity sought at Babel through human manufacture stands in stark contrast to the organic unity of the Body of Christ.

Liturgical Connections: In the Orthodox consecration of a church, natural stones are placed in the foundation, and the antimension contains relics—connecting the worship space to the apostolic foundation built upon Christ the Cornerstone. The Pentecost services explicitly contrast Babel’s confusion with the unity restored through the Holy Spirit, where the scattered languages are reunited not through human effort but through divine grace.

Spiritual Application: The substitution of brick for stone speaks to the perennial temptation in spiritual life to replace authentic divine gifts with human substitutes—to construct our own righteousness rather than receive Christ’s, to build religious systems rather than enter into living relationship with God. Saint John Chrysostom observes that all human constructions apart from God, no matter how impressive, are destined for confusion and dissolution.

The slime or bitumen used as mortar was the same substance that waterproofed Noah’s ark. What preserved the righteous through judgment here becomes the binding agent of rebellion—a reminder that material things in themselves are neutral, taking their moral character from the purposes to which they are directed.

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