Bible Strands
Genesis 10:31
These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative concludes the genealogical record of Shem’s descendants within the Table of Nations. This summary follows the territorial description of Japheth and precedes the closing statement on all of Noah’s sons.
The words — `לְ/מִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖/ם` (le/mish.pe.cho.Ta/m) = to their clans, and `לִ/לְשֹׁנֹתָ֑/ם` (li/l.sho.no.Ta/m) = to their languages. These terms anchor the verse’s classification system for post-flood human groups.
The thread — The identical closing formula appears in Genesis 10:5 and Genesis 10:20 to mark the end of Japheth’s and Ham’s genealogies. Acts 17:26 references the underlying premise that all nations trace back to a single ancestral source.
Why it lands — The text enumerates Shem’s descendants by clan, language, land, and nation to document the structured dispersion of populations after the flood. It demands the reader accept these genealogical divisions as the historical framework for human settlement rather than a unified origin story.
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
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
Cross-references
- Genesis 10:5 From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
- Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
- Acts 17:26 From 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.