Discovery BoxGenesis 11:4 
Context11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens 1 so that 2 we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise 3 we will be scattered 4 across the face of the entire earth.”
Genesis 19:34
Context19:34 So in the morning the older daughter 5 said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. 6 Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 7
1 tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.
2 tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.
3 tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”
4 sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.
5 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
6 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
7 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
