Genesis 11:5-6

11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people ¹  had started ²  building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ³  they have begun to do this, then ⁴  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ⁵ 

[11:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the sons of man.” The phrase is intended in this polemic to portray the builders as mere mortals, not the lesser deities that the Babylonians claimed built the city.

[11:5]  ² tn The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.

[11:6]  ³ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”