What Does Genesis 10:20 Mean in the King James?

These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

Genesis 10:20 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Here, a people’s tongue is more than how it speaks: it is one of the bonds that makes a people a people.

THE MEANING

Your belonging takes shape through more than one layer: family, shared speech, place, and peoplehood. The verse names these together, showing how the words you share connect you to a wider human world.

THE ROOT

לִלְשֹׁנֹתָם

li-leshonotam

GROWS FROM

ל־שׁ־נ

l-sh-n

Tongue; by extension, language or speech.

“tongues” in this verse is li-leshonotam. One Hebrew word holds both the tongue in the body and the language a people shares. Set beside family and land, speech appears as one of the bonds through which a people’s world takes shape.

ALSO GROWS

lashon: Tongue, the bodily organ of speech.

לָשׁוֹן

The physical tongue and a people’s language share one word, linking embodied speech to communal belonging.

lashon: Language or speech shared by a people.

לָשׁוֹן

This is the sense in the verse: a shared language marks one of the ways a people is gathered and distinguished.

THE PATTERN

A people takes shape through shared speech, kinship, place, and collective belonging.

By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

Genesis 10:5 · KJVShared tongue appears alongside family, land, and nation as a marker of how people belong.

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Genesis 11:1 · KJVA shared language binds people across the whole earth in a single pattern of belonging.

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

Acts 2:6 · KJVEach person’s own language remains a living bond of belonging, even as many peoples gather together.

THE THREAD

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Genesis 11:1 · KJV

Genesis 11 uses the same Hebrew word, lashon, for language that Genesis 10:20 uses for tongues. The contrast makes the word’s reach visible: one shared tongue can hold humanity together, while many tongues mark distinct peoples.

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