Genesis 10:31

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, after their nations.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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שֵׁ֔ם

Shêm

H8035

“Shem”

Noun, Proper

Appears 17× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 5:32

Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H8034

TWOT: None

Shem = "name" - the eldest son of Noah and progenitor of the Semitic 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 →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is שֵׁ֔ם Shem H8035 — appearing just 17 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

שֵׁ֔ם Shem H8035 occurs in 16 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

6 nouns
1 pronoun

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 20 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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Genesis 10:31 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 10:5 Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.
Genesis 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, in their nations.
Acts 17:26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

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 10:31 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אֵ֣לֶּה בְנֵי שֵׁ֔ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לִלְשֹׁנֹתָ֑ם בְּאַרְצֹתָ֖ם לְגוֹיֵהֶֽם

These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, after their nations.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 10:31 Septuagint · lemma form

οὗτος υἱός σημ ἐν ὁ φυλή αὐτός κατά γλῶσσα αὐτός ἐν ὁ χώρα αὐτός καί ἐν ὁ ἔθνος αὐτός

These were the sons of Sem in their tribes, according to their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

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)

אִלֵּין בְּנֵי שֵׁם לְזַרְעֲיָתְהוֹן לְלִישָׁנְהוֹן לְאַרְעָתְהוֹן בְּעַמְמֵיהוֹן

These are the sons of Shem, according to their progenies, according to their languages, in their lands, in their peoples.

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)

אִלֵין בְּנוֹי דְשֵׁם לְיִחוּסֵיהוֹן בְּמוֹתַב אַרְעֲיַתְהוֹן לִגְנִיסַת עַמְמֵיהוֹן

These are the sons of Shem, according to their houses, in the dwelling of their lands, according to the kindred of their people.

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 10:31 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 →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

31. These are, &c.] Cf. Gen_10:5; Gen_10:20.

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

These are the sons of Shem,.... His sons, and grandsons, and great grandsons, in all twenty six, no doubt but there were many more, but these are only mentioned; for none of the sons of Elam, Ashur, and Lud, are named, and but one of Arphaxad's, and one of Salah's, and two of Eber's, and none of Peleg's; when it is not to be questioned but they had many, as is certain of Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, and Peleg, Gen 11:13.

after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations: from hence sprung various families at first, and these of different languages upon the confusion of Babel, which thenceforward formed different nations, dwelt in different lands; which have been pointed at as near as we can at this distance, and with the little helps and advantages we have: it seems from hence that Shem's posterity were of different languages as well as those of Ham and Japheth.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 31, 32. These are the sons of Shorn, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. The pedigree of the Shemite tribes is closed with the customary formula (vide ver. 5); that which follows being the concluding formula for the entire table of nations.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations (literally, according to their Tholdoth, or historical developments), in their nation,: and by these (literally, from the) were the nations divided (or, did the nations scatter themselves) in the earth after the flood.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — 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 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Shêm (“Shem”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Shêm carries the sense “Shem.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Genesis 5:32, which shares the word «Shem», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
Compare how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.