Genesis 10:5

Summary

Genesis 10:5 describes how the descendants listed in the preceding verses (the sons of Japheth) dispersed into the coastal regions and islands of the nations, each group differentiated by language, clan, and nation. The verse functions as a closing formula summarizing the geographic and linguistic diversification of this branch of the genealogy.

Key words

• nifreDu ("they separated", H6504) — Niphal perfect, third person plural: the Niphal stem marks the action as passive or reflexive, meaning the subjects "were separated" or "separated themselves," without an explicit external agent named in the clause.
• 'iYei ("coastlands of", H0339) — masculine plural construct noun, linking to hagoyim ("the nations"); construct form ties it grammatically to the following noun as "coastlands of the nations."
• 'ish ("each", H0376I) — masculine singular noun used distributively, introducing the breakdown of the group into individual units ("each one to his...").
• leshoNo ("his language", H3956H) — singular construct noun with third-person masculine singular suffix, indicating language as a defining, individualized trait of each group.
• mishpechoTam ("their clans", H4940) — feminine plural construct noun with third-person masculine plural suffix, marking clan-level subdivision as an organizing category alongside language and nation.

What the text says

The verse opens with me'Eleh ("from these", H9006 + H0428), a prepositional phrase pointing back to the group just enumerated in the preceding verses. The main verb, nifreDu (H6504), is Niphal perfect plural, presenting the dispersal as something that happened to the subjects — the coastlands/nations — rather than describing an agent who divided them. The subject of this verb is 'iYei haGoyim ("coastlands of the nations", H0339 + H1471A), a construct chain where "coastlands" is defined by "the nations."

The remainder of the verse uses three parallel prepositional phrases, each governed by 'ish ("each", H0376I) used distributively: lil'shoNo ("to his language"), lemishpechoTam ("to their clans"), and begoyeHem ("in their nations"). Each phrase pairs a preposition with a construct noun plus pronominal suffix, creating a repeated pattern that breaks down the general dispersal into three criteria — language, clan, and nation — applied at the level of the individual ('ish) within the larger group (-am, "their," plural suffix). This shift from singular 'ish to plural suffixes reflects the grammar moving from the individual unit back to the collective groups they belong to.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'iYei ("coastlands of", H0339) as nēsoi ("islands"), and translates be'artzoTam ("in their lands") with en tē gē autōn ("in their land," singular). The Vulgate follows a similar pattern with insulae ("islands") and in regionibus suis ("in their regions," plural, closer to the Hebrew plural 'artzoTam). Both LXX and Vulgate preserve the threefold structure of language, families/clans, and nations found in the Hebrew, though the Hebrew's Niphal verb form (denoting the coastlands as undergoing separation) is rendered as a straightforward passive (ephōristhēsan, divisae sunt) in both versions.