Bible Strands
Genesis 10:19
and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records a genealogical and territorial list following the Flood, detailing the expansion of the Canaanite clans after the dispersion of Noah’s descendants. This passage functions as a geographic boundary marker within the Table of Nations.
The words — גְּב֤וּל (ge.Vul) denotes the territorial border or limit, while עַד־ ('ad-) establishes the endpoint or extent of that boundary. Together they frame the measured stretch of land assigned to the Canaanite inheritance.
The thread — The same cities appear as rival kingdoms in Genesis 14:2, are later destroyed by divine judgment in Genesis 19:24, and are situated near the well-watered Jordan plain described in Genesis 13:10. These references trace the cities from political entities to sites of judgment and geographic markers.
Why it lands — The text establishes the precise historical bounds of the Canaanite territory before listing the nations descended from Ham. It requires the reader to recognize the defined scope of the land that later becomes the focus of Israel’s inheritance and divine promise.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
Cross-references
- Genesis 14:2 went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
- Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Genesis 13:10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
- Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Genesis 20:1 Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,
- Genesis 26:1 Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
- Numbers 34:2 “Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these boundaries:
- Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
- Joshua 12:7 And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance
- Joshua 14:1 Now these are the portions that the Israelites inherited in the land of Canaan, as distributed by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of Israel.