The Tower of Babel Split in Three and the Word Come Turned Against Its Builders

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Noach 25:2

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

"Come, let us build ourselves a city" (Genesis 11:4). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You said "Come"; by your lives, with that very word I will descend upon you, as it is stated, "Come, let us descend [and confound their language there]" (Genesis 11:7). Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: The tower was divided into three parts. A third was swallowed up, a third fell, and a third is still standing until now. Whoever ascends to its top sees the palms of Jericho like these locusts.

Themes

Divine JudgmentNoahBabelCain And AbelCreation

Biblical References

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Sifrei DevarimHow the Builders of Babel Rebelled After Eating WellThe familiar version gives us the basic story: humanity, united, decided to build a tower reaching to the heavens, and God, displeased, scattered them, confusinLegends of the JewsA Year-Long Climb to the Top of the Tower of BabelYears blurring into decades, every thought, every action geared toward one monumental goal. That’s the story of the Tower of Babel, but not just the part The faTargum OnkelosThe Tower of Babel in the Aramaic TorahThe Hebrew Bible says God "descended to see the city and the tower" of Babel (Genesis 11:5). Targum Onkelos will not allow that reading. God does not descend. IPirkei DeRabbi EliezerThe Real Motive Behind the Tower of BabelThe familiar story is this: from Genesis, but there's so much more simmering beneath the surface. to a deeper layer of this iconic tale, drawing from the ancienBereshit RabbahWhy Cain Became a Farmer and Abel a ShepherdWhy Cain Became a Farmer and Abel a Shepherd is the question behind this passage from Bereshit Rabbah. Consider the verse in (Genesis 4:2): "She gave birth onceMidrash Tanchuma Buber, NoachWhy the Generation of Babel Built Pillars Against HeavenThree times in history the nations of the earth banded together not in friendship but in defiance, says the Midrash. Once in the days of Joshua, when the kings