Bible Strands
Genesis 10:32
All 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator concludes the genealogical record by summarizing the clans descended from Noah’s three sons. This statement follows the detailed listings of Shem, Ham, and Japheth’s descendants and their assigned territories.
The words — The Hebrew נִפְרְדוּ (nif.re.Du) literally means "they separated" or "they spread out," describing the geographical dispersion of post-flood populations. אֵלֶּה ('E.leh) translates as "these," pointing directly back to the specific lineages just enumerated.
The thread — The text states that all post-flood nations originated from Noah’s sons, which aligns with Genesis 9:19’s note that the whole earth was populated from them. This genealogical scope is echoed in Acts 17:26, which traces every nation to one man, and is framed by the introductory note in Genesis 10:1.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to identify the listed clans as the direct ancestral source of every post-flood nation. It demands recognition that human ethnic and geographic divisions stem from a single familial line rather than independent origins.
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 families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Cross-references
- Genesis 9:19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
- 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.
- Genesis 10:1 This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
- Genesis 5:29 And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.”
- Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Genesis 9:7 But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
- Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
- Genesis 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.
- Genesis 10:31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.