Genesis 10:22

Summary

Genesis 10:22 lists five names identified as bene ("sons of", H1121A) Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The verse forms part of the genealogical structure of Genesis 10, enumerating descendants through a construct chain.

Key words

• be.Nei ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural noun in construct state, syntactically binding the following name (Shem) as the head of the list; construct form signals "sons belonging to X" rather than a standalone noun.
• Shem (H8035) — proper name in the genitive-like position governed by the construct bene; identifies the father/ancestor to whom the five following names are attributed as sons.
• 'ei.Lam ("Elam", H5867C) — first name in the list, proper noun with no additional grammatical marking beyond its role as a listed son.
• ve. ("and", H9002) — conjunction repeated four times (before Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram), coordinating each name serially rather than using a single connector before the final item.
• 'a.Ram ("Aram", H758G) — final name in the sequence, marked with a slightly different conjunction form (va. rather than ve.) though both carry the same Strong number H9002 and function identically as "and."

What the text says

The verse is built entirely on a construct chain: bene Shem ("sons of Shem") functions as the syntactic head, followed by five proper names joined by repeated conjunctions. This repetition of ve ("and") before each name (Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, Aram), rather than a single conjunction before the last item only, produces a paratactic listing style typical of Biblical Hebrew genealogies — each name is presented as coordinately and independently attached to the head noun bene, without subordination or ranking implied by the grammar itself. The construct plural bene does not carry any additional finite verb; the clause is nominal, meaning the sentence is a bare list with implied "are" or "were" supplied only in translation, not present in the Hebrew grammatical forms themselves. No verb, tense, or aspect marking appears in the Hebrew text of this verse; the entire content is delivered through nominal apposition and coordination.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the list with an initial vocative-style pause after Sēm (marked by an apostrophe in the Greek text: "υἱοὶ Σῆμ'"), followed by the same five names joined by καὶ ("and") throughout, mirroring the Hebrew's repeated conjunction pattern. The Vulgate (Clementine) uses a colon after "Sem" and separates names with "et," also preserving the repeated-conjunction structure. The Spanish RV1909 and SBLIBRE, and the English BSB, follow the same listing order without semantic divergence from the Hebrew; the BSB notably drops the final "and" before "Lud" in its rendering style choice, while SBLIBRE keeps "y" only before the last name ("Lud y Aram"), reflecting each version's own conjunction convention rather than a divergence in the underlying Hebrew data.