Genesis 10:31

Summary

Genesis 10:31 closes the list of Shem's descendants with a summary formula, stating that these are Shem's sons distributed according to four categories: their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

Key words

• 'Eleh ("these", H0428) — demonstrative particle opening the verse; it points back to the genealogical list just given and signals a closing summary, the same formula used to close the sections on Japheth and Ham.
• venei- ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct of "son"; the construct state links it directly to Shem, producing "sons of Shem" as a single genealogical unit.
• mishpechotam ("their clans", H4940) — feminine plural construct noun with third-person masculine plural suffix ("them"); construct form requires a following preposition (le-, "to/according to") to complete the phrase "according to their clans."
• lelshonotam ("to their languages", H3956H) — feminine plural construct of "tongue/language" plus possessive suffix; parallels mishpechotam in structure, forming part of a fourfold classification.
• legoyehem ("to their nations", H1471A) — masculine plural construct of "nation" plus suffix; closes the series, distinguishing "nations" (goyim) from "lands" ('artzotam) as a separate category.

What the text says

The verse is built as a short summary clause: the demonstrative 'Eleh ("these") plus the construct phrase venei-Shem ("sons of Shem") establishes the subject, and then four prepositional phrases follow, each marked by le- ("to/according to") or be- ("in"): lemishpechotam ("according to their clans"), lilshonotam ("according to their languages"), be'artzotam ("in their lands"), and legoyehem ("according to their nations"). Each of these four nouns appears in construct form with a third-person masculine plural pronominal suffix ("their"), a repeated grammatical pattern that ties the four categories together as parallel modifiers of the same subject, "the sons of Shem."

The Hebrew alternates between the preposition le- (used with "clans," "languages," and "nations") and be- (used with "lands"), a variation not visible in translations that render all four terms with a single connector such as "according to" or "by." This grammatical structure — a demonstrative pronoun followed by a construct chain and four parallel prepositional phrases — is identical to the formula used to close the genealogies of Japheth (10:5) and Ham (10:20), marking this verse as part of a recurring editorial pattern in the chapter.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the four Hebrew categories using two different Greek constructions: "ἐν ταῖς φυλαῖς κατὰ γλώσσας αὐτῶν" ("in the tribes, according to their languages") for the first two terms, then "ἐν ταῖς χώραις αὐτῶν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν αὐτῶν" ("in their countries and in their nations") for the last two, joining them with "καί" ("and"), a connector absent in the Hebrew, which uses no conjunction between the four terms. The Vulgate similarly uses "secundum" ("according to") only once, governing all four nouns in series ("cognationes, et linguas, et regiones... in gentibus suis"), collapsing the Hebrew's alternating le-/be- prepositional pattern into a single construction with "et" ("and") conjunctions not present in the Hebrew text.