Genesis 10:31
in Genesis 10These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
KJV
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
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This verse in Genesis 10
Commentary
4 notes on this verseShem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. For Elam left behind him the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians.
This site's exposition
Joktan was the father of Almodad
on Genesis 10:26-31
Joktan's thirteen sons are counted out in full and then never taken up again. Havilah is the country the Pishon ran through at 2:11, where the gold was. Sheba and Ophir stand behind the queen who came to Solomon and the fleet that fetched his gold.
This site's exposition
These are the sons of Shem
Josephus set Shem's peoples between the Euphrates and the Indian Ocean, with Elam the father of the Persians. The word Semitic was later coined from his name. Genesis 11:10 takes up his line again and runs it through Peleg to Abram.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
These are the sons of Shem,....
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֣לֶּה | ʾeleh | these | H428 → | 746 times |
| בְנֵי־ | venei- | [were] [the] sons of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| שֵׁ֔ם | shem | Shem | H8035 → | 17 times |
| לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם | lemishpechotam | to clans their | H4940 → | 303 times |
| לִלְשֹׁנֹתָ֑ם | lilshonotam | to languages their | H3956 → | 117 times |
| בְּאַרְצֹתָ֖ם | beartzotam | in lands their | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לְגוֹיֵהֶֽם׃ | legoyehem | to nations their | H1471 → | 561 times |
אֵ֣לֶּהthese
ʾelehH428 →746 times
בְנֵי־[were] [the] sons of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
שֵׁ֔םShem
shemH8035 →17 times
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖םto clans their
lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times
לִלְשֹׁנֹתָ֑םto languages their
lilshonotamH3956 →117 times
בְּאַרְצֹתָ֖םin lands their
beartzotamH776 →2504 times
לְגוֹיֵהֶֽם׃to nations their
legoyehemH1471 →561 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 17:26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:7–8
Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
- Genesis 3:20
And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.
- Malachi 2:10
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
- Romans 5:12–19
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- 1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
- Deuteronomy 32:7–8
Through
Genesis 10:5From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
it leads to
- Zephaniah 2:11
The LORD will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.
- Jeremiah 2:10
Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
- Isaiah 42:4
He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
- Zephaniah 2:11
Where this verse is studied
About Genesis

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews - Book I, Chapter 6, Sections 4.
