Land of Shinar
The cradle of Sumerian civilization, one of the earliest known human civilizations; the Bible's “land of Shinar” and “Ur of the Chaldeans” both lay in this cultural sphere, from which Abraham's ancestors came.
First mentioned in the Bible
The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.— Genesis 10:10
Background
Sumer was one of the earliest known human civilizations, flourishing on the alluvial plain of the lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers—Lower Mesopotamia, in modern southern Iraq. Toward the end of the fourth millennium B.C.E., the Sumerians built city-states such as Erech (Uruk), Eridu, and Ur, and they pioneered cuneiform writing, the wheel, and ziggurat temple towers. The name “Sumer” never appears in the Bible, yet the events of Genesis took place within the Sumerian cultural sphere: after the Flood, Nimrod founded a kingdom whose beginning was “Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Ge 10:10), and humans migrating eastward built the tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar until Jehovah God confused their language and scattered them (Ge 11:1-9). Abraham's hometown, “Ur of the Chaldeans” (Ge 11:28, 31; 15:7), was a Sumerian city; its ruins have yielded the Royal Cemetery of Ur and a great ziggurat. Joshua likewise recalled that Abraham's father Terah had lived “on the other side of the River” serving other gods, and that Jehovah God brought Abraham out from there (Jos 24:2-3). In later centuries the region was ruled by Akkad and Babylon, and the name Sumer was gradually replaced by Babylonia.
Related Scriptures (New World Translation)
Cush became father to Nimʹrod. He was the first to become a mighty one on the earth. He became a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah. That is why there is a saying: “Just like Nimʹrod, a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” The beginning of his kingdom was Baʹbel, Eʹrech, Acʹcad, and Calʹneh, in the land of Shiʹnar.— Genesis 10:8-10
Now all the earth continued to be of one language and of one set of words. As they traveled eastward, they discovered a valley plain in the land of Shiʹnar, and they began dwelling there. Then they said to one another: “Come! Let us make bricks and bake them with fire.” So they used bricks instead of stone, and bitumen as mortar. They now said: “Come! Let us build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered over the entire face of the earth.” Then Jehovah went down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. Jehovah then said: “Look! They are one people with one language, and this is what they have started to do. Now there is nothing that they may have in mind to do that will be impossible for them. Come! Let us go down there and confuse their language in order that they may not understand one another’s language.” So Jehovah scattered them from there over the entire face of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. That is why it was named Baʹbel, because there Jehovah confused the language of all the earth, and Jehovah scattered them from there over the entire face of the earth.— Genesis 11:1-9
While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.— Genesis 11:28
Appears in these Bible journeys
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