Daniel 4:21-22

4:21 whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ¹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest – 4:22 it is you, ²  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

Genesis 11:4

11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ³  so that ⁴  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ⁵  we will be scattered ⁶  across the face of the entire earth.”

Deuteronomy 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ⁷ 

Matthew 11:23

11:23 And you, Capernaum, ⁸  will you be exalted to heaven? ⁹  No, you will be thrown down to Hades! ¹⁰  For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day.

¹ tn Aram “the beasts of the field” (also in vv. 23, 25, 32).

² sn Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.

³ 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.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

⁸ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

⁹ tn The interrogative particle introducing this question expects a negative reply.

¹⁰ sn In the OT, Hades was known as Sheol. It is the place where the unrighteous will reside (Luke 10:15; 16:23; Rev 20:13-14).