The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Semites
Genesis 10:21–32 — The Semites. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
21And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yul·laḏ gam- ū·lə·šêm hag·gā·ḏō·wl ’ă·ḥî ye·p̄eṯ hū ’ă·ḇî kāl- bə·nê- ‘ê·ḇer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-was-born also to-Shem the-great, the-brother of-Japheth — he [was] father of-all the-sons-of Eber.
Where the English smooths the original
The historian introduces him with marked distinction as "the father of Eber," the ancestor of the Hebrews.
He is styled the brother of Japheth, perhaps to signify the union of the Gentiles and Jews in the church.
How much better it is to be like Eber, the father of a family of saints and honest men, than the father of a family of hunters after power, worldly wealth, or vanities. Goodness is true greatness.
In his stock the Church was preserved: therefore Moses stops speaking of Japheth and Ham, and speaks of Shem extensively.
Shem is called the father of all the sons of Eber, because two tribes sprang from Eber through Peleg and Joktan, viz., the Abrahamides, and also the Arabian tribe of the Joktanides
22The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
bə·nê šêm ‘ê·lām wə·’aš·šūr wə·’ar·paḵ·šaḏ wə·lūḏ wa·’ă·rām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
The-sons of-Shem: Elam, and-Asshur, and-Arphaxad, and-Lud, and-Aram.
Where the English smooths the original
Elam denotes the Elymaeans, who stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, but who are first met with as Persians no longer speaking a Semitic language. Asshur: the Assyrians who settled in the country of Assyria, Ἀτουρία, to the east of the Tigris, but who afterwards spread in the direction of Asia Minor. Arphaxad: the inhabitants of Ἀῤῥαπαχῖχτις in northern Assyria. The explanation given of the name, viz., "fortress of the Chaldeans" (Ewald), "highland of the Chaldeans" (Knobel), "territory of the Chaldeans" (Dietrich), are very questionable. Lud: the Lydians of Asia Minor, whose connection with the Assyrians is confirmed by the names of the ancestors of their kings. Aram: the ancestor of the Aramaeans of Syria and Mesopotamia.
The Aramaean language gradually prevailed over the other Semitic dialects, and before the Christian era it had displaced even the Hebrew language among the Jews. The Aramaic tongue spoken by our Lord and the Apostles was like the language in which portions of the books of Ezra and Daniel were written.
Twenty-six of the primitive nations are descended from Shem, of which five are immediate. (45) Elam was settled in a part of the modern Persia, to which he gave name. This name seems to be preserved in Elymais, a province of that country bordering on the Dijlah, and now included in Khusistan. It was early governed by its own kings Genesis 14:1 , and continued to occupy a distinct place among the nations in the time of the later prophets Isaiah 22:6 ; Jeremiah 49:34 ; Ezekiel 32:24 . Its capital was Shushan or Susa Daniel 8:2 , now Shuster. (46) Asshur seems to have originally occupied a district of Mesopotamia, which was bounded on the east by the Tigris Genesis 2:14 . The inviting plains and slopes on the east of the Tigris would soon occasion a migration of part of the nation across that river. It is possible there may have been an ancient Asshur occupying the same region even before the flood Genesis 2:14 . (47) Arpakshad is traced in Ἀῤῥαπαχῖτις Arrapachitis, Arrhapachitis, a region in the north of Assyria. V. Bohlen and Benfey identify it with Ariapakshata, denoting a country beside Aria. Gesenius renders it border or stronghold of the Kasdim; but the components of the word are uncertain. The nations descended from Arpakshad are noted at the close on account of their late origin, as well as their import for the subsequent narrative. (48) Lud is usually identified with the Lydians, Λυδοὶ Ludoi, who by migration at length reached and gave their name to a part of the west coast of Asia Minor. (49) Aram gave name to the upper parts of Mesopotamia and the parts of Syria north of Palestine. Hence, we read of Aram Naharaim (of the two rivers), Aram Dammesek (of Damascus), Aram Maakah on the southwest border of Damascus, about the sources of the Jordan, Aram Beth Rechob in the same neighborhood, and Aram Zoba to the north of Damascus. The name is perhaps varied in the Ἄριμοι Arimoi of Homer (Iliad 2:783) and Strabo (xiii. 4, 6). From Aram are descended four later nations.
23The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·ḇə·nê ’ă·rām ‘ūṣ wə·ḥūl wə·ḡe·ṯer wā·maš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-sons of-Aram: Uz, and-Hul, and-Gether, and-Mash.
Where the English smooths the original
the countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, fell to his descendants.
the chief of a people having their seat in the north of Arabia Deserta, between Palestine and the Euphrates. From this Uz it is possible that the sons of Nahor and of Seir Genesis 22:21 ; Genesis 36:28 obtained their name. Job dwelt in this land.
In the parallel passage ( 1 Chronicles 1:17 ) = Meshech.
24Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’ar·paḵ·šaḏ yā·laḏ ’eṯ- šā·laḥ wə·še·laḥ yā·laḏ ’eṯ- ‘ê·ḇer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Arphaxad begot — Shelah; and-Shelah begot — Eber.
Where the English smooths the original
He is the progenitor of the Hebrews, the race to which Abraham belonged. He is marked out very prominently for reasons partly unknown to us at this distance of time, but partly no doubt because he was the ancestor of the chosen race who immediately preceded the confusion of tongues, and to whom belonged that generic Hebrew tongue, which afterward branched into several dialects, of which the Hebrew, now strictly so called, was one. It is probable that most of the diversified modes of speech retained the substance of the primeval speech of mankind. And it is not improbable, for various reasons, that this Hebrew tongue, taken in its largest sense, deviated less from the original standard than any other. The Shemites, and especially the Hebrews, departed less from the knowledge of the true God than the other families of man, and, therefore, may be presumed to have suffered less from the concussion given to the living speech of the race. The knowledge previously accumulated of the true God, and of his will and way, would have been lost, if the terms and other modes of expressing divine things had been entirely obliterated. It is consonant with reason, then, to suppose that some one language was so little shaken from its primary structure as to preserve this knowledge. We know as a fact, that, while other nations retained some faint traces of the primeval history, the Hebrews have handed down certain and tangible information concerning former things in a consecutive order from the very first. This is a proof positive that they had the distinct outline and material substance of the primeval tongue in which these things were originally expressed. In keeping with this line of reasoning, while distinct from it, is the fact that the names of persons and things are given and explained in the Hebrew tongue, and most of them in that branch of it in which the Old Testament is composed. We do not enter further into the special nature of the Hebrew family of languages, or the relationship in which they are found to stand with the other forms of human speech than to intimate that such investigations tend to confirm the conclusions here enunciated.
Êber in the Hebrew means “on the other side of.” The ancestors of Israel are described as those who “dwelt of old time beyond the River” ( êber ha-nâhâr = “on the other side of the Euphrates river”). See Joshua 24:2 .
Eber’s birth is given with the view of showing that the right of primogeniture belonged not to Joktan, but to Eber. The name Arphaxad, as we have seen ( Genesis 10:22 ), at present defies all explanation. For the rest, see the Tôldôth Shem, Genesis 11:10-26 .
25Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šə·nê ḇā·nîm yul·laḏ ū·lə·‘ê·ḇer hā·’e·ḥāḏ šêm pe·leḡ kî ḇə·yā·māw hā·’ā·reṣ nip̄·lə·ḡāh ’ā·ḥîw wə·šêm yā·qə·ṭān
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-to-Eber were-born two sons: the-name of-the-one [was] Peleg, because in-his-days the-earth was-divided; and-the-name of-his-brother [was] Joktan.
Where the English smooths the original
This may refer to the breaking up of the race of Shem into separate nations, which severally occupied a distinct region; and so, while Joktan took Arabia, and in course of time expelled the Hamites from that country, Asshur, Aram, and Peleg occupied the regions on the north and north-west. But as Peleg, according to the Tôldôth Shem, was born only 101 years after the flood, Noah’s family could scarcely have multiplied in so short a time to as many as 500 people; and Mr. Cyril Graham considers that the name refers to “the first cutting of some of those canals which are found in such numbers between the Tigris and the Euphrates.” This is made more probable by the fact that Peleg in Hebrew means water-course.
This division came by the diversity of language, as appears in Ge 11:9. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
his father gave him this name by the Spirit of prophecy, foreseeing this great event, and the time of it; this being no unusual thing in Scripture, as we shall hereafter see, to give prophetical names to children. And thus there is a longer and more convenient space left for the peopling of the world, and ripening of things for the general dispersion and habitation of the earth. The earth was divided, first in language, and then in habitations.
the earth was divided and his son's name, "Peleg," was given in memory of that event (see De 32:8; Ac 17:26).
26And Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
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wə·yā·qə·ṭān yā·laḏ ’eṯ- ’al·mō·w·ḏāḏ wə·’eṯ- šā·lep̄ wə·’eṯ- ḥă·ṣar·mā·weṯ wə·’eṯ- yā·raḥ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Joktan begot — Almodad, and — Sheleph, and — Hazarmaveth, and — Jerah,
Where the English smooths the original
Hazarmaveth, “the court of death,” so called because of the unhealthiness of its climate, is now Hadramaut. Abimael means “the father of Mael.” While in Hebrew and Syriac men took the name of their father, in Arabic they often take the name of a son, with Abu or Abi (“father of”) prefixed. Sheba, the region afterwards famous for its commerce and its wealth of spices and precious stones. A Sheba also occurs among the race of Ham (see Genesis 10:7 ). Opbir: the name, probably, at first of a district of Oman in Arabia, but afterwards given to some port in India or Ceylon, from some fancied similarity. Havilah: some commentators consider that this is the same district as that previously occupied by the Cushites ( Genesis 10:7 ); others argue that the two Havilahs are distinct, and that this is the region called Chawlân, in Northern Yemen. It is, however, certain that the Hamites possessed this country prior to its being occupied by the Joktanites.
His brother Joktan is called Kachtan by the Arabians, and is regarded as the father of all the primitive tribes of Arabia. The names of his sons are given in Genesis 10:26-29 . There are thirteen of them, some of which are still retained in places and districts of Arabia, whilst others are not yet discovered, or are entirely extinct. Nothing certain has been ascertained about Almodad, Jerah, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, and Jobab. Of the rest, Sheleph is identical with Salif or Sulaf (in Ptl. 6, 7, Σαλαπηνοί), an old Arabian tribe, also a district of Yemen. Hazarmaveth (i.e., forecourt of death) is the Arabian Hadhramaut in South-eastern Arabia on the Indian Ocean, whose name Jauhari is derived from the unhealthiness of the climate. Hadoram: the Ἀδραμῖται of Ptol. 6, 7, Atramitae of Plin. 6, 28, on the southern coast of Arabia. Uzal: one of the most important towns of Yemen, south-west of Mareb. Sheba: the Sabaeans, with the capital Saba or Mareb, Mariaba regia (Plin.), whose connection with the Cushite ( Genesis 10:7 ) and Abrahamite Sabaeans ( Genesis 25:3 ) is quite in obscurity. Ophir has not yet been discovered in Arabia; it is probably to be sought on the Persian Gulf, even if the Ophir of Solomon was not situated there. Havilah appears to answer to Chaulaw of Edrisi, a district between Sanaa and Mecca. But this district, which lies in the heart of Yemen, does not fit the account in 1 Samuel 15:7 , nor the statement in Genesis 25:18 , that Havilah formed the boundary of the territory of the Ishmaelites. These two passages point rather to Χαυλοταῖοι, a place on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen, between the Nabataeans and Hagrites, which Strabo describes as habitable.
The thirteen tribes of the Joctanites or primitive Arabs are enumerated here in Genesis 10:26-29 . (58) Almodad is usually referred to Yemen. The first syllable may be the Arabic article. Mudad is the name of one celebrated in Arab story as the stepfather of Ishmael and chief of the Jurhum tribe of Joctanites. The Ἀλλουμαιῶται Alloumaiōtai of Ptolemy belonged to the interior of Arabia Felix. (59) Sheleph is traced in the Σαλαπηνοὶ Salapeenoi of Ptolemy (vi. 7), belonging to the interior. (60) Hazarmaveth gives name to a district on the Indian Ocean, abounding in spices, now called Hadramaut. This tribe is the Chatramitae of Greek writers. (61) Jerah occupied a district where are the coast and mountain of the moon, near Hadramaut. (62) Hadoram is preserved in the tribe called Ἀδραμῖται Adamitai Atramitae, placed by Pliny (vi. 28) between the Homerites and the Sachalites on the south coast of Arabia. (63) Uzal perhaps gave the ancient name of Azal to Sana, the capital of Yemen, a place still celebrated for the manufacture of beautiful stuffs. (64) Diclah settled possibly in the palm-bearing region of the Minaei in Hejaz. (65) Obal is otherwise unknown. (66) Abimael is equally obscure. Bochart supposes there is a trace of the name in Μάλι Mali, a place in Arabia Aromatifera. (67) Sheba is the progenitor of the Sabaei in Arabia Felix, celebrated for spices, gold, and precious stones, and noted for the prosperity arising from traffic in these commodities. A queen of Sheba visited Solomon. The dominant family among the Sabaeans was that of Himjar, from whom the Himjarites (Homeritae) of a later period descended. (68) Ophir gave name to a country celebrated for gold, precious stones, and almug wood, which seems to have lain on the south side of Arabia, where these products may be found. What kind of tree the almug is has not been clearly ascertained. Some suppose it to be the sandal wood which grows in Persia and India; others, a species of pine. If this wood was not native, it may have been imported from more distant countries to Ophir, which was evidently a great emporium. Others, however, have supposed Ophir to be in India, or Eastern Africa. The chief argument for a more distant locality arises from the supposed three years' voyage to it from Ezion-geber, and the products obtained in the country so reached. But the three years' voyage 1 Kings 10:22 ; 2 Chronicles 9:21 seems to be in reality to Tarshish, a very different region. (69) Havilah here is the founder of a Joctanite tribe of Arabs, and therefore his territory must be sought somewhere in the extensive country which was occupied by these wandering tribes. A trace of the name is probably preserved in Khawlan, a district lying in the northwest of Yemen, between Sana and Mecca, though the tribe may have originally settled or extended further north. (70) Jobab has been compared with the Ἰωβαρῖται Iōbaritai of Ptolemy (vi. 7). Bochart finds the name in the Arabic: yobab, a desert.
27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’eṯ- hă·ḏō·w·rām wə·’eṯ- ’ū·zāl wə·’eṯ- diq·lāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and — Hadoram, and — Uzal, and — Diklah,
Where the English smooths the original
Mentioned in Ezekiel 27:19 , cf. R.V. marg., as a place from which iron was brought. Traditionally the old name of Sana the chief town of Yemen.
Diklah signifies a palm tree, in the Chaldee or Syriac language, with which kind of trees Arabia abounded, especially the country of the Minaei, as Pliny (o) relates; wherefore Bochart (p) thinks the posterity of Diklah had their seat among them, rather than at Phaenicon or Diklah, so called from the abundance of palm trees that grew there, which was at the entrance into Arabia Felix at the Red sea, of which Diodorus Siculus (q) makes mention; and so Artemidorus in Strabo (r) speaks of a place called Posidium, opposite to the Troglodytes, and where the Arabian Gulf ends, where palm trees grew in a wonderful manner, on the fruit of which people lived, where was a Phaenicon, or continued grove of palm trees; and here is placed by Ptolemy (s) a village called Phaenicon, the same with Diklah. (f) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) (g) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. (h) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (i) Juchasin, fol. 135. 2.((k) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 16. (l) lb. c. 19. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5). So Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. (n) Geograph. l. 16. p. 529. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (p) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 2. c. 22.) (q) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 175. (r) Geograph. l. 16. p. 34. (s) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.)
Uzal: one of the most important towns of Yemen, south-west of Mareb. Sheba: the Sabaeans, with the capital Saba or Mareb, Mariaba regia (Plin.), whose connection with the Cushite ( Genesis 10:7 ) and Abrahamite Sabaeans ( Genesis 25:3 ) is quite in obscurity. Ophir has not yet been discovered in Arabia; it is probably to be sought on the Persian Gulf, even if the Ophir of Solomon was not situated there. Havilah appears to answer to Chaulaw of Edrisi, a district between Sanaa and Mecca. But this district, which lies in the heart of Yemen, does not fit the account in 1 Samuel 15:7 , nor the statement in Genesis 25:18 , that Havilah formed the boundary of the territory of the Ishmaelites. These two passages point rather to Χαυλοταῖοι, a place on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen, between the Nabataeans and Hagrites, which Strabo describes as habitable.
28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
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wə·’eṯ- ‘ō·w·ḇāl wə·’eṯ- ’ă·ḇî·mā·’êl wə·’eṯ- šə·ḇā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and — Obal, and — Abimael, and — Sheba,
Where the English smooths the original
presumably the Sabeans of south-west Arabia whose extant inscriptions shew that at one time they must have been a prosperous and civilized community. For the Queen of Sheba, see 1 Kings 10.
A different person from him Genesis 10:7 , and the father of another people, having only the same name with him.
Sheba: the Sabaeans, with the capital Saba or Mareb, Mariaba regia (Plin.), whose connection with the Cushite ( Genesis 10:7 ) and Abrahamite Sabaeans ( Genesis 25:3 ) is quite in obscurity. Ophir has not yet been discovered in Arabia; it is probably to be sought on the Persian Gulf, even if the Ophir of Solomon was not situated there. Havilah appears to answer to Chaulaw of Edrisi, a district between Sanaa and Mecca. But this district, which lies in the heart of Yemen, does not fit the account in 1 Samuel 15:7 , nor the statement in Genesis 25:18 , that Havilah formed the boundary of the territory of the Ishmaelites. These two passages point rather to Χαυλοταῖοι, a place on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen, between the Nabataeans and Hagrites, which Strabo describes as habitable.
29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’eṯ- ’ō·w·p̄ir wə·’eṯ- ḥă·wî·lāh wə·’eṯ- yō·w·ḇāḇ kāl- ’êl·leh bə·nê yā·qə·ṭān
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and — Ophir, and — Havilah, and — Jobab. All these [were] sons of-Joktan.
Where the English smooths the original
The limits thus marked out determine that all these settlers, Ophir among the rest, were at first to be found in Arabia, how far soever they may have wandered from it afterward.
Famous for its trade in the days of Solomon, 1 Kings 9:28 ; 1 Kings 10:11 ; 1 Kings 22:48 , and for its gold of especial purity.
Havilah, a distinct person from him Genesis 10:7 .
30Their territory extended from Mesha to Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
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way·hî mō·wō·šā·ḇām bō·’ă·ḵāh mim·mê·šā sə·p̄ā·rāh haq·qe·ḏem har
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-was their-dwelling from-Mesha, [as] you-come toward-Sephar, the-mountain of-the-east.
Where the English smooths the original
Probably the famous frankincense mountain in south Arabia, with Daphar as its furthest point, was reputed the southern limit of “the sons of Joktan.” Genesis 10:30
the mountain of the East, the mountain of incense, which is situated still farther to the east. - The genealogy of the Shemites closes with Genesis 10:31 , and the entire genealogy of the nations with Genesis 10:32 . According to the Jewish Midrash, there are seventy tribes, with as many different languages; but this number can only be arrived at by reckoning Nimrod among the Hamites, and not only placing Peleg among the Shemites, but taking his ancestors Salah and Eber to be names of separate tribes. By this we obtain for Japhet 14, for Ham 31, and for Shem 25, - in all 70 names. The Rabbins, on the other hand, reckon 14 Japhetic, 30 Hamitic, and 26 Semitic nations; whilst the fathers make 72 in all. But as these calculations are perfectly arbitrary, and the number 70 is nowhere given or hinted at, we can neither regard it as intended, nor discover in it "the number of the divinely appointed varieties of the human race," or "of the cosmical development," even if the seventy disciples ( Luke 10:1 ) were meant to answer to the seventy nations whom the Jews supposed to exist upon the earth.
These boundaries include the greater part of the west and south coast of the peninsula, and are therefore sufficient to embrace the provinces of Hejaz (in part), Yemen, and Hadramaut, and afford space for the settlements of the thirteen sons of Joctan. The limits thus marked out determine that all these settlers, Ophir among the rest, were at first to be found in Arabia, how far soever they may have wandered from it afterward.
31These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
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’êl·leh ḇə·nê- šêm lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām lil·šō·nō·ṯām bə·’ar·ṣō·ṯām lə·ḡō·w·yê·hem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
These [are] the-sons of-Shem, by-their-clans, by-their-tongues, in-their-lands, by-their-nations.
Where the English smooths the original
though the different races are distinguished by the diversity of tongues, yet the different languages are much less numerous than the tribes. The eleven tribes of Kenaanites, and the thirteen tribes of Joctanites, making allowance for some tribal peculiarities, most probably spoke at first only two dialects of one family of languages, which we have designated the Hebrew, itself a branch of, if not identical with, what is commonly called the Shemitic. Hence, some Hamites spoke the language of Shem. A similar community of language may have occurred in some other instances of diversity of descent.
it seems from hence that Shem's posterity were of different languages as well as those of Ham and Japheth.
The pedigree of the Shemite tribes is closed with the customary formula (vide ver. 5); that which follows being the concluding formula for the entire table of nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations (literally, according to their Tholdoth, or historical developments ), in their nation,: and by these (literally, from the ) were the nations divided (or, did the nations scatter themselves) in the earth after the flood. Genesis 10:31
32All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’êl·leh miš·pə·ḥōṯ nō·aḥ bə·nê- lə·ṯō·wl·ḏō·ṯām bə·ḡō·w·yê·hem ū·mê·’êl·leh hag·gō·w·yim bā·’ā·reṣ nip̄·rə·ḏū ’a·ḥar ham·mab·būl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
These [are] the-clans of-the-sons-of-Noah, by-their-generations, in-their-nations; and-from-these spread the-nations in-the-earth after the-flood.
Where the English smooths the original
This makes it probable that each family preserved in some way an historical record of its descent; and as this table is called the Tôldôth of the Sons of Noah, it was probably formed by a comparison of numerous Tôldôth, each showing the descent of various members of the three great families into which the sons of Noah were divided.
Looking back we can discern the object of the compiler in demonstrating (1) the unity of the race through Noah; (2) the origin of the peoples through his sons; (3) the origin of Israel through Shem and Eber. Genesis 10:32
the sons of Noah were ranged according to their nations, and every nation ranked by its families, so that every nation had its assigned territory, and in every nation the tribes, and in every tribe the families, were located by themselves.
prepare the way for the description of that event which led to the division of the one race into many nations with different languages.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The Table of Nations has run through Japheth (vv. 2–5) and Ham (vv. 6–20); Shem comes last, but he comes crowned. The narrator does not introduce him as Noah’s son but as “father of all the sons of Eber” (‘êḇer, H5677) — an honorific that leaps three generations to land on the ancestor of the Hebrews. Keil reads the design exactly: Shem “is called the father of all the sons of Eber, because two tribes sprang from Eber through Peleg and Joktan.” The Geneva note states the editorial logic without apology — “In his stock the Church was preserved: therefore Moses stops speaking of Japheth and Ham, and speaks of Shem extensively.” The whole chapter has been a funnel; here it narrows to the line that matters. Even the disputed phrase haggāḏôl (H1419, “the elder”) — whether Shem is the elder, or Japheth — keeps the brothers paired: Benson hears in it a quieter note, that Shem is “the brother of Japheth, perhaps to signify the union of the Gentiles and Jews in the church.”
Shem’s five sons are persons and peoples at once. Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, Aram — Keil: “the names of the five sons of Shem occur elsewhere as the names of the tribes and countries.” Aram alone (’ărām, H758, “highland”) becomes “Syria” wherever the English Bible prints it, and Cambridge notes the long shadow it casts: “The Aramaean language gradually prevailed over the other Semitic dialects, and before the Christian era it had displaced even the Hebrew language among the Jews.” Then comes Joktan’s long roll of thirteen (vv. 26–29), most of them now Arabian places — Sheleph in Yemen, Hazarmaveth (“the court of death,” Hadramaut), Sheba of the frankincense and the queen, Ophir of the gold. The list ends not with a person but with a map: “their dwelling was from Mesha … unto Sephar, a mount of the east” (v. 30). This is the honest texture of the unit — some names firmly located, many lost. Barnes, surveying the boundaries, concedes only that “all these settlers, Ophir among the rest, were at first to be found in Arabia, how far soever they may have wandered from it afterward.”
At the chapter’s hinge a name turns into a record. Eber has two sons; the first is Peleg (peleg, H6389), “because in his days the earth was divided” — and the verb is nip̄ləḡāh (H6385, pālag, to split), the very root of his name. The Geneva note ties it to the next chapter without hesitation: “This division came by the diversity of language, as appears in Ge 11:9.” But the timing is debated: Poole holds that Eber, by a prophetic spirit, “gave him this name … foreseeing this great event, and the time of it,” while Barnes argues the name was given at birth, “among the representative heads of the various nations.” The chapter then closes twice — once for Shem’s line (v. 31), once for the whole table (v. 32) — each time sorting humanity “after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.” Cambridge sees the compiler’s threefold aim laid bare: “(1) the unity of the race through Noah; (2) the origin of the peoples through his sons; (3) the origin of Israel through Shem and Eber.” The last word of the chapter is hammabbūl (H3999) — “the flood.” Every nation just named stands downstream of the ark.
Read under the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority — and offered as a fallible reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted — this unit does its theology by arrangement. First, the order is the argument. Japheth, then Ham, then Shem: the chapter saves the chosen line for the end and then refuses to treat it as one branch among three. Shem is not “father of Elam” or “father of Arphaxad” but “father of all the sons of Eber” (v. 21) — defined by a descendant four generations down, because that descendant names the Hebrews. The genealogy is already election in the form of a family tree. Second, the table reports a fractured world but withholds the reason. Three times the closing formulae sort the nations “after their tongues” (vv. 5, 20, 31), and Peleg’s name marks the moment “the earth was divided” (v. 25) — yet the cause is held back. Genesis 10 gives the result, scattered and multilingual; Genesis 11 will rewind to Babel and show the scattering was judgment, not mere migration. The two chapters are deliberately out of order so that we feel the diversity as fact before we are told it is discipline. Third, and most quietly: the chapter that ends on “the flood” has spent its whole length proving that the flood did not end the human story but re-seeded it — seventy nations from three brothers, the unity of the race underwriting the diversity of the peoples. The same God who narrowed the line to Shem widened the world to all nations, and both moves are His. This is the seed-bed of the promise that in Abraham (out of Shem, out of Eber, out of Peleg) “all the families of the earth” — these very families — “shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
Before Babel is ever explained, the earth is already divided — the chapter makes us feel the scattering as fact, then sends us back to learn it was judgment.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
1 Chronicles 1:17–23 re-copies this Shemite genealogy almost verbatim, sharing the proper names of Shem, Asshur, Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Joktan, and most of Joktan’s thirteen sons. The Verifier records the shared Hebrew lexemes directly: H3355 Yoqṭân, H486 ʼAlmôwdâd, H8026 sheleph (Joktan’s line, 1 Chr 1:20), and H5677 ʻÊbêr, H775 ʼArpakshad, H7974 Shelach (the Eber line, 1 Chr 1:18). These are not allusions but a deliberate re-use of the same name-list — the genealogy preserved and re-sung centuries later for the returned exiles.
Genesis 10:22 · Genesis 10:24 · Genesis 10:26 · 1 Chronicles 1:17 · 1 Chronicles 1:18 · 1 Chronicles 1:20
basis: Verifier: shared rare Hebrew lexemes H486 ʼAlmôwdâd (in 2 vv), H8026 sheleph (in 2 vv), H3355 Yoqṭân (in 6 vv), plus H5677 ʻÊbêr / H775 ʼArpakshad / H7974 Shelach — the Chronicler re-copies the Genesis name-list.
This unit's Shemite branch (Shem → Arphaxad → Shelah → Eber → Peleg, vv. 21–25) is immediately taken up again in the focused genealogy of Genesis 11:10–17, the Tôldôth Shem. The Verifier confirms the link on genuinely low-frequency proper names: H775 ʼArpakshad (only 9 occurrences) and H7974 Shelach (7), shared directly between Genesis 10:24 and Genesis 11:12. The commentators read the two passages as deliberately complementary: Ellicott notes that here "the descendants of Peleg, his elder son, are omitted from this table, and reserved for the Tôldôth Shem," and Cambridge that Eber's line is "included among the descendants of Joktan and Peleg, as well as of Terah." Genesis 10 spreads Shem horizontally across the nations; Genesis 11 then re-runs the same names vertically, dropping Joktan's Arabian branch to follow Peleg's line alone down to Terah and Abram. The wide angle and the narrow are the same roll, read twice for two purposes.
Genesis 10:21 · Genesis 10:24 · Genesis 10:25 · Genesis 11:10 · Genesis 11:12 · Genesis 11:16
basis: Verifier (Gen 10:24 ↔ 11:12): shared rare proper names H775 ʼArpakshad (in 9 vv) and H7974 Shelach (in 7 vv); the focused Tôldôth Shem re-uses this unit's exact Shemite name-sequence, narrowing it from Joktan's branch to Peleg's line toward Abraham.
The Peleg notice (v. 25) is echoed in 1 Chronicles 1:19, which likewise names Eber’s two sons and repeats the etymology. The Verifier confirms the link on the rare verb-and-name cluster itself: H6385 pâlag “to divide” (only 4 occurrences) and H6389 Peleg (7 occurrences) are shared, alongside H5677 ʻÊbêr and H3355 Yoqṭân. Because pālag is genuinely rare and carries the same wordplay in both places, this rates as a verbal link, not a mere thematic one.
Genesis 10:25 · 1 Chronicles 1:19
basis: Verifier: shared low-frequency lexemes H6385 pâlag (in 4 vv) and H6389 Peleg (in 7 vv), with H5677 ʻÊbêr — the rare divide-root carries the same etymology in both verses.
Genesis 10:25 dates a division it does not narrate; Genesis 11:1–9 narrates the division it does not date. The link is structural and theological rather than lexical: v. 25’s “earth was divided” (nip̄ləḡāh, H6385) is read by Geneva, Keil, JFB, and the Pulpit Commentary as the confusion of tongues. Note honestly that the bridge-verb differs — Babel’s scattering in 10:32 and 11:9 uses pûṣ / pāraḏ, not pālag — so the connection rests on the shared motif of one earth split into many tongues, which is why most (not all) commentators identify them. Delitzsch dissents, positing an earlier separation “of which there is no record or trace.”
Genesis 10:25 · Genesis 10:32 · Genesis 11:1 · Genesis 11:8 · Genesis 11:9
basis: shared motif of the one earth divided into many tongues; the dividing-verbs differ (pālag in 10:25 vs. pûṣ/pāraḏ at Babel), so the link is thematic, not a verbal quotation — and Delitzsch contests the identification.
The name Eber (‘êḇer, H5677, vv. 21, 24, 25) is the seed of ‘iḇrî, “Hebrew.” Joshua 24:2 describes Israel’s fathers as those who “dwelt of old time beyond the River” (‘êḇer ha-nāhār) — the same root of “crossing over.” The connection between the personal name here and the gentilic “Hebrew” is etymological and widely held (Cambridge, Barnes, Gill, Benson), though it is an interpretation of the name, not a quotation; some derive “Hebrew” instead from Abram’s crossing of the river. Tiered structural rather than verbal because Joshua 24:2 uses the common noun/preposition ‘êḇer, not the proper name.
Genesis 10:21 · Genesis 10:24 · Genesis 10:25 · Joshua 24:2 · Genesis 14:13
basis: shared root H5677 ʻÊbêr / ‘êḇer (the proper name here, the common term ‘beyond [the River]’ in Joshua 24:2) — an etymological motif, widely held but an interpretation of the name, not a quotation.
Genesis 10:23 lists Uz (‘ūṣ, H5780) first among Aram’s sons; Job 1:1 sets the patriarch Job “in the land of Uz.” The Verifier flags H5780 as a shared lexeme (8 occurrences), which by frequency would rate verbal — but the identification is genuinely disputed. The same name belongs to a son of Nahor (Genesis 22:21) and a Horite (Genesis 36:28), and Cambridge observes that the Uz of Job and Lamentations 4:21 lies near Edom, which “does not suit a son of Aram.” The honest tier is therefore flagged: the shared word is real, the geographical identity is not secure.
Genesis 10:23 · Job 1:1 · Genesis 22:21 · Genesis 36:28 · Lamentations 4:21
basis: Verifier reports shared lexeme H5780 ʻÛwts (in 8 vv), but the name attaches to at least three distinct figures/places (Aram’s son, Nahor’s son, a Horite); Cambridge notes Job’s Uz sits near Edom and ‘does not suit a son of Aram’ — provenance contested, downgraded from verbal.
Aram (’ărām, H758) of v. 22 is the ancestor whose name the rest of the Hebrew Bible carries as the kingdom Syria. 2 Samuel 8:5 (“Aram of Damascus”) shares the lexeme H758 with this verse; the Verifier confirms the verbal overlap. But because H758 is common (128 occurrences) and the link is a shared ethnonym rather than a rare quotation, the honest tier is structural — the same people-name recurring, not a citation of this text.
Genesis 10:22 · Genesis 10:23 · 2 Samuel 8:5
basis: Verifier: shared lexeme H758 ʼĂrâm (in 128 vv) — a common ethnonym, not a rare quotation; the same Aram/Syria people recurring, tiered structural.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
This Shemite genealogy is not a dead-end register; it is the channel of the promise. The line Shem → Arphaxad → Shelah → Eber → Peleg (vv. 21–25) is picked up by Luke’s genealogy of Jesus, which traces back through “Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah … the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah” (Luke 3:35–36). Matthew’s opening — “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” — presupposes this whole upstream line. The reading is ancient and widely held: the Table of Nations narrows precisely so the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), now the Seed of Shem and Eber, can be located in history. Cross-Testament note: Luke is Greek and shares no Hebrew Strong’s number with Genesis, so this is a genealogical-structural link, not a verbal one; note too that Luke 3:36 follows the LXX in inserting “Cainan” between Arphaxad and Shelah, which the Hebrew of v. 24 omits.
Genesis 10:21 · Genesis 10:24 · Genesis 10:25 · Luke 3:35 · Luke 3:36 · Matthew 1:1
The Table of Nations is, by ancient reckoning, a roll of seventy peoples “divided in the earth after the flood” (v. 32) — the divided world that the gospel is sent to re-gather. The same Lord who scattered the nations at Babel and sorted them here “after their tongues” (v. 31) reverses the scattering at Pentecost, where Parthians, Medes, Elamites (Acts 2:9 — the very Elam of v. 22) hear the wonders of God each in his own tongue; and the consummation is John’s vision of “a great multitude … from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). Paul preaches that God “made from one man every nation of mankind … having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling” (Acts 17:26) — a direct theological reading of this chapter’s assigned “dwellings” and “boundaries” (v. 30). Cross-Testament note: Acts and Revelation are Greek and share no Hebrew lexeme with Genesis 10; this is a typological/structural reading of the nations-motif, not a verbal quotation.
Genesis 10:31 · Genesis 10:32 · Genesis 10:30 · Acts 2:9 · Acts 17:26 · Revelation 7:9
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Honesty notes specific to this unit. (1) The “elder” of v. 21 is left open. Hebrew haggāḏôl can modify Shem or Japheth; the Syriac/Vulgate read one way, the LXX/Onkelos/Luther the other. This study reports the dispute and leans on Genesis 11:10 (Shem was 100 two years after the flood, so not the eldest) without claiming the grammar settles it. (2) Peleg’s “division” is identified with Babel by most, but not asserted. The verb pālag (v. 25) is not the verb used at Babel (pûṣ/pāraḏ), so the connection is thematic; Delitzsch dissents and posits an unrecorded earlier separation. The thread is tiered structural for that reason. (3) The Uz↔Job link is deliberately downgraded. The Verifier’s lexeme-frequency would rate it verbal, but at least three distinct figures bear the name and Job’s Uz sits near Edom; provenance is contested, so it is flagged. (4) Geography is honestly uncertain. Mesha and Sephar (v. 30), and several of Joktan’s sons (Obal, Abimael, Jobab), have no secure location; the commentators (Bochart, Gesenius, Keil, Michaelis) openly disagree, and this study preserves the disagreement rather than picking a winner. (5) The LXX “Cainan” (v. 24) inserted between Arphaxad and Shelah is followed by Luke 3:36 but absent from the Hebrew; it is noted, not silently harmonized. (6) The number “seventy nations” is a traditional count (Jewish Midrash; cf. the seventy of Luke 10:1), but Keil rightly cautions that the figure “is nowhere given or hinted at” in the text itself and is reached only by arbitrary reckoning — so it is reported as tradition, not as Scripture’s own claim. (7) The two redemptive-historical threads are cross-Testament. Luke 3, Acts 2/17, and Revelation 7 are Greek and share no Hebrew Strong’s number with Genesis 10; the links to them are genealogical-structural and typological respectively, never tiered “verbal.” The link to the Tôldôth Shem (Genesis 11:10–17), by contrast, is verbal — it re-uses the same rare Hebrew names (Arphaxad, Shelah) inside the same Testament.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)