Bible Strands
Genesis 10:5
From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the post-Flood dispersion of Noah’s descendants, placing this verse between the genealogies of Javan and Ham to mark the geographical and ethnic partition of the earth.
The words — The text highlights נִפְרְדוּ (nif.re.Du), meaning "they separated," and אִיֵּי (i.Yei), rendered as "coastlands" or "maritime peoples," to denote the physical division of populations.
The thread — This motif of coastal nations appears in Jeremiah 2:10, Isaiah 42:4, and Zephaniah 2:11, where shore-dwelling peoples are repeatedly addressed in contexts of divine judgment, justice, and universal worship.
Why it lands — The passage states that human linguistic and territorial division is a recorded historical reality, requiring the reader to acknowledge the sovereign ordering of nations before evaluating how those nations respond to divine authority.
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
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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:
- Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
- Jeremiah 25:22 all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea;
- 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 11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.
- Psalms 72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
- Isaiah 24:15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the east. Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea.
- Isaiah 40:15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.