Genesis 10:29

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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יָקְטָֽן

Yoqṭân

H3355

“Joktan”

Noun, Proper

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 10:25

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6994

TWOT: None

Joktan = "smallness" - son of Eber and descendant of Shem and patriarch of various Arabian tribes

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is יָקְטָֽן Joktan H3355 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

אוֹפִ֥ר Ophir H211
יוֹבָ֑ב Jobab H3103

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יָקְטָֽן Joktan H3355 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

6 nouns
1 pronoun
3 particles

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 11 words from the Hebrew and 13 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Genesis 10:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Kings 9:28 They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
Genesis 25:18 They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.
1 Samuel 15:7 Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.
1 Kings 22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they didn't go; for the ships were broken at Ezion Geber.
1 Chronicles 8:18 and Ishmerai, and Izliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal,
1 Chronicles 9:10 Of the priests: Jedaiah, and Jehoiarib, Jachin,
1 Chronicles 9:13 and their brothers, heads of their fathers' houses, one thousand seven hundred sixty; very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.
Job 22:24 Lay your treasure in the dust, The gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

Job 28:16 It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Psalms 45:9 Kings' daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.
Isaiah 13:12 I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir.
Genesis 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 10:29 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאֶת אוֹפִ֥ר וְאֶת חֲוִילָ֖ה וְאֶת יוֹבָ֑ב כָּל אֵ֖לֶּה בְּנֵ֥י יָקְטָֽן

Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 10:29 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ουφιρ καί ευιλα καί ιωβαβ πᾶς οὗτος υἱός ιεκταν

and Uphir, and Evila, and Jobab, all these were the sons of Jektan.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, John Gill's Exposition discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיָת אוֹפִר וְיָת חֲוִילָה וְיָת יוֹבָב כָּל אִלֵּין בְּנֵי יָקְטָן

and Ophir, and Chavilah, and Yobab: all these are the sons of Yoktan.

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיַת אוֹפִיר וְיַת חֲוִילָא וְיַת יוֹבָב כָּל אִילֵין בְּנוֹי דְיָקְטָן

and Ophir, and Havila, and Jobab. All these are the sons of Joktan.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 10:29 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 29. See Clarke on Ge 10:26.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

29. Ophir] Famous for its trade in the days of Solomon, 1Ki_9:28; 1Ki_10:11; 1Ki_22:48, and for its gold of especial purity. Cf. Job_22:24; Job_28:16; Psa_45:9; Isa_13:12. Its locality has been much disputed; it has been identified, at different times, with regions in India, East Africa, and the south coast of Arabia. In the present context it is evidently connected with Arabia.

Havilah] See Gen_2:11 and Gen_25:18. Possibly a district in north-east Arabia.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab,.... If several of the sons of Joktan went into India, as the Arabs say, one would be tempted to think that Ophir in India, whither Solomon sent his ships once in three years, had its name from the first of these; See Gill on Gen 10:26 but as this would be carrying him too far from the rest of his brethren, who appear to have settled in Arabia, some place must be found for him there; and yet there is none in which there is any likeness of the name, unless Coper can be thought to be, a village in the country of the Cinaedocolpites, on the Arabian Gulf, as in Ptolemy (f), or Ogyris, an island in the same sea, Pliny (g) makes mention of the same with the Organa of Ptolemy (h), placed by him on the Sachalite bay; wherefore Bochart (i) looks out elsewhere for a seat for this Ophir, or "Oupheir", as in the Septuagint version, and finding in a fragment of Eupolemus, preserved by Eusebius (k), mention made of the island of Ourphe, which he thinks should be Ouphre, or Uphre, situated in the Red sea, seems willing to have it to be the seat of this man and his posterity, and that it had its name from him; or that their seat was among the Cassanites or Gassandae, the same perhaps with the tribe of Ghassan, Aupher and Chasan signifying much the same, even great abundance and treasure: Havilah, next mentioned, is different from Havilah, the son of Cush, Gen 10:7 and so his country; but it is difficult where to fix him; one would rather think that the Avalite bay, emporium, and people, should take their name from him than from Obal, Gen 10:28 but Bochart (l) chooses to place him and his posterity in Chaulan, a country in Arabia Felix, in the extreme part of Cassanitis, near the Sabaeans: and Jobab, the last of Joktan's sons, was the father of the Jobabites, called by Ptolemy (m) Jobarites, corruptly for Jobabites, as Salmasius and Bochart think; and who are placed by the above geographer near the Sachalites in Arabia Felix, whose country was full of deserts, as Jobab in Arabic signifies, so Bochart (n) observes, as the countries above the Sachalite bay were, by which these Jobabites are placed:

all these were the sons of Joktan; the thirteen before mentioned, all which had their dwelling in Arabia or near it, and which is further described in the following verse.

(f) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. (g) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (h) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) (i) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. (k) Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. p. 457. (l) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) (n) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 29.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Sons of Jectan; though not perhaps all born before the dispersion of nations, which may be said of some others, whom Moses here mentions, that he may not have to interrupt his narration. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Ophir; either that in India, of which see 1Ki 9:28; 10:11; 22:48; or the other in Arabia, of which see Job 22:24; 28:16. See also Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12.

Havilah, a distinct person from him Gen 10:7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

29. Ophir — A land celebrated in Solomon’s time for its trade in gold, gems, apes, and peacocks. Probably it was a port in Arabia on the Red Sea, although some assign it to India. There is an El-Ophir in the modern Oman or Omaun, east Arabia.

Havilah — A district of north Yemen. There was also a Cushite Havilah. See Gen_10:7, and note on Cush.

Jobab — Not identified, but supposed by Bochart and others to be in Arabia Deserta.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Yoqṭân (“Joktan”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Yoqṭân carries the sense “Joktan.” How does it shape the verse?
2 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Genesis 10:25 shares the word «Joktan» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
Reading how Adam Clarke's Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.