Raise the tower of baked bricks, then climb the ramps to the unfinished top.
A tower, step by step.
Model · the plain of Shinar
BabelThe Tower of Babel
We're building the Tower of Babel
On a plain in Shinar, people said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower.” Build it too, step by step.
Choose a piece, then drag it to the golden spot. You can also use the “Place the piece” button. Turn the scene with “Look”.
Press “Walk around” to step onto the plain. When the tower is finished, press “Climb the tower”: walk between the tents and through the city gate, then climb the stairway and the ramps to the top. Walk with W A S D or the arrow keys, and hold the right mouse button to look around. On a touch screen, walk with the joystick and swipe on the right side to look around. Press “Done” to go back to the model.
The Bible says they made burnt bricks and used tar, then built a city and a tower. It doesn't say what the tower looked like. The steps in the model look like old towers made of clay; their shape is a choice made for the model. There are no people in the scene.
They used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. The kiln, the molds and the stacks show how the work was done. Their number is illustrative.
Genesis 11:3
3 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.
When the last row is laid, the work stops. The scaffolding stays, the top stays unfinished, and the paths lead far away.
Genesis 11:8
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
The clay tablets have different marks, to remind us of the mixed-up languages. The marks are made up for the model; they are not real writing.
Genesis 11:7–9
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
The people wanted to make a name for themselves. The Lord mixed up their language and scattered them, so they stopped building the city. Later, God tells Abram, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great.”
Genesis 12:2
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Later, in Acts 2, people from many countries understood the same good news.
Acts 2:4
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.