Genesis 10:31 KJV

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 10:26-31

(26-31) Joktan.—“The little one,” as being a younger son. Of the thirteen divisions of his family, few are of any importance, though several of the names are curious from their connection with the Arabic language. The Joktanite country was Arabia Felix, or Yemen, and as the people led a pastoral life without founding cities, the traces of their tribal names are insignificant. Those worth noting are Almodad, because it has the full form of the article, retained as Al in Arabic, but shortened in... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Genesis 10:1-32

V. THE GENERATIONS OF THE SONS OF NOAH CHAPTER 10 Shem, Ham, and Japheth and Their Seed 1. The sons of Japheth (Genesis 10:2-5 ) 2. The sons of Ham (Genesis 10:6-20 ) 3. The sons of Shem (Genesis 10:21-32 ) Here we have the beginning of the nations. God knows them and keeps track of the nations of the earth. The order of the sons of Noah is here changed. Japheth comes first. Ham’s place is unchanged. Shem comes last. This order is given in view of Noah’s prophecy. Among the descendants... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 10:1-32

DESCENDANTS OF NOAH In this chapter the genealogy of Japheth is given first (vs.1-5). Their history is not pursued in the book of Genesis: their character was that of the energy of independence, and though at first it seems they were involved in the building of the tower of Babel (for all Noah's family evidently remained at that time close to that area), yet they soon spread northward and had no significant connection with Abraham and his descendants. There is more said about the family of... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Genesis 10:1-32

THE NATIONS This chapter is more than a list of names of individuals. Several are names of families or nations, and make it the most important historical document in the world. You will see that the stream of the race divides according to the three sons of Noah. Whose division is first traced (Genesis 10:2 )? What part of the world was settled by his offspring (Genesis 10:5 )? This might read: “By these were the coast lands of the nations divided,” and research indicates that the names of... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Genesis 10:1-32

The Fountains of History Gen 10:1-5 Shall I be far wrong if I suppose that few of you have ever read the tenth chapter of Genesis right through? Certainly, from a glance at the long, hard names, one would think that there is not much here for the edification of the reader, and that the best thing that can be done is to skip the chapter. Yet there are some home-words here, and hidden under rough husks are some germs, out of which perhaps we ourselves may have come! In the fifth verse you find... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 10:15-32

15-32 The posterity of Canaan were numerous, rich, and pleasantly seated; yet Canaan was under a Divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Those that are under the curse of God, may, perhaps, thrive and prosper in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us. The curse of God always works really, and always terribly. Perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work so that others can see it; or a slow... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Genesis 10:21-32

The Sons of Shem v. 21. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. Shem is here called the father of all the children of Eber, the Hebrews in the wider sense of the word, because Eber, through his sons Peleg and Joktan, was the progenitor of two distinct series of peoples, the Joktanites of Arabia and the Abrahamites, afterward the children of Israel. v. 22. The children of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Genesis 10:1-32

THIRD SECTIONThe Ethnological Table. Genesis 10:1-321Now these are the generations [genealogies] of the sons of Noah; [they were] Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and unto them were sons born after the flood.1. The Japhethites (Genesis 10:2-5).2The Sons of Japheth; Gomer [the Cimmerians, in the Taurian Chersonesus; Crimea], and Magog [Scythians], and Madai [Medes], and Javan [Ionians], and Tubal [Tibereni], and Meschech 3[Moschi], and Tiras [Thracians]. And the sons of Gomer1; Ashkenaz1 [Germans, Asen],... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Genesis 10:1-32

In this chapter we have a simple and straightforward account of the dispersion of the sons of Noah and their families after the Flood. The descendants of Japheth moved toward the isles or the coastlands. The descendants of Ham moved toward the plains of Shinar and thence on. The descendants of Shem moved toward the hill country of the east. It is not possible very clearly to define geographically today the districts occupied by various descendants of Noah. What is clear, however, and to be... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 10:31

‘These are the sons of Shem after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.’ Compare Genesis 10:5; Genesis 10:20. The descriptions confirms that ‘sons’ is to be taken in the broader context of describing tribes, lands and nations. The mention of language in each of these references is interesting. There is no attempt to divide by language. We must therefore see it as drawing attention to distinctions of language in preparation for the account given in Genesis... read more