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Pentecost Season · Pentecost Sunday: Vigil · Year C

Genesis 11:1-9 or Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20b

The Tower of Babel

June 4, 2028

The Tower of Babel, Lucas van Valckenborch
The Tower of Babel, Lucas van Valckenborch, 1595Landesmuseum Mainz, Mainz
A Flemish tower built like a Roman amphitheatre spiralling into cloud, with cranes, scaffolding and hundreds of workers still at it.Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens: the reading is this project, and the painting shows it still going.Lucas van ValckenborchA Flemish painter who fled the Netherlands for religious reasons and worked for the Habsburgs, specialising in panoramic landscapes.Landesmuseum Mainz, MainzOne of the oldest museums in Germany, begun in 1803 with a gift of paintings from Napoleon.Landesmuseum Mainz, Mainz
Roman Lectionary
GospelJohn 7:37-39Jn 7:37-39
Second ReadingRom. 8:22-27Rom 8:22-27
First ReadingGen. 11:1-9Gn 11:1-9 orExod. 19:3-8a, 16-20bEx 19:3-8a, 16-20bAlt. 1st ReadingEzek. 37:1-14Ez 37:1-14 orJoel 3:1-5Jl 3:1-5
Responsorial PsalmPs. 104:1-2a, 24+35c, 27-28, 29b-30 (cf. 30)Ps 104:1-2a, 24+35c, 27-28, 29b-30 (cf. 30)

Overview & Insights

"Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there." (Genesis 11:7)

Humanity settles on a plain and builds a city with a tower to make a name for itself. God confuses their single language and scatters them over the earth, a scattering the Pentecost gift of tongues begins to heal.

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Take it further: Genesis 11:1-9 or Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20b

Commentary

Genesis 11 CommentaryGn 11 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik

Verse-by-verse walk through the Babel narrative and its judgment on human self-exaltation.

Genesis 11 CommentaryGn 11 Commentary Precept Austin

Compiles multiple evangelical voices on the scattering of the nations at Babel.

Genesis 11:1 CommentariesGn 11:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregates classic commentaries (Barnes, Gill, JFB, Pulpit) side by side on the Babel account.

Genesis 11 (Barnes' Notes)Gn 11 (Barnes' Notes) StudyLight

Barnes traces the historical setting of Shinar and the tower's building project.

Exodus 19 CommentaryEx 19 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik

Covers the alternate reading, Israel's arrival at Sinai and the terms of the covenant.

Genesis 11:1-9 InterlinearGn 11:1-9 Interlinear BibleHub

Shows the Hebrew text word by word for the confusion of language at Babel.

Background & Word Study

Genesis 11:1-9Gn 11:1-9 Sefaria

Hebrew and English text with linked classical Jewish commentary on the Babel story.

Genesis 1-11 OverviewGn 1-11 Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the primeval history that frames Babel as the last of humanity's downward turns.

Sermons & Reflections

Babel and Bewilderment: Pentecost Sunday Journey with Jesus

An essay reading Babel's confusion directly against Pentecost's gift of understanding.

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