Genesis 10:31
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
American King James Version (AKJV)
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
American Standard Version (ASV)
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
These, with their families and their languages and their lands and their nations, are the offspring of Shem.
Webster's Revision
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
World English Bible
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, after their nations.
English Revised Version (ERV)
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
Barnes's Genesis 10:31 Bible Commentary
Genesis 10:31 contains the usual closing formula for the pedigree of the Shemite tribes; and Genesis 10:32 contains the corresponding form for the whole table of nations.
From a review of these lands it is evident that Shem occupied a much smaller extent of territory than either of his brothers. The mountains beyond the Tigris, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Levant, the Archipelago, and the Black Sea, bound the countries that were in part peopled by Shem. Arabia, Syria, and Assyria contained the great bulk of the Shemites, intermingled with some of the Hamites. The Kushites, Kenaanites, and Philistines trench upon their ground. The rest of the Hamites peopled Africa, and such countries as were supplied from it. The Japhethites spread over all the rest of the world.
In this table there are 70 names, exclusive of Nimrod, of heads of families, tribes, or nations descended from the 3 sons of Noah - 14 from Japheth, 30 from Ham, and 26 from Shem. Among the heads of tribes descended from Japheth are 7 grandsons. Among those from Ham are 23 grandsons and 3-great-grandsons. Among those of Shem are 5 grandsons, one great-grandson, 2 of the fourth generation, and 13 of the fifth. Whence, it appears that the subdivisions are traced further in Ham and much further in Shem than in Japheth, and that they are pursued only in those lines which are of importance for the coming events in the history of Shem.
It is to be observed, also, that, 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.
