What Does Genesis 10:5 Mean in the King James?
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
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, separation is the shape of belonging: a people takes form through tongue, family, land, and nation.
THE MEANING
You encounter human belonging through distinct tongues, families, and lands. The verse names these together as the structure of peoples: each according to tongue, family, and nation in its land.
THE ROOT
נִפְרְדוּ
niphredû
GROWS FROM
פרד
To separate, part, or become distinct.
“divided” in this verse is niphredû. The verb comes from פרד, “to separate” or “part,” and its form presents the peoples as becoming distinct. The following phrases give that distinction a social shape: tongue, family, land, and nation.
ALSO GROWS
vayyippārədû: They parted or separated (Genesis 13:11).
וַיִּפָּרְדוּ
The same root describes households parting, a family-scale instance of people becoming distinct.
yippārēdū: They shall be separated (Genesis 25:23).
יִפָּרֵדוּ
The root describes two nations emerging distinct from one womb, linking separation to the shaping of peoples.
לִלְשֹׁנוֹ
lilshono
GROWS FROM
לשן
Tongue; by extension, the speech or language of a people.
Hebrew uses the same word for the bodily tongue and for language. The verse marks peoples by a word that holds both together: a community’s language is carried by the very organ named in its speech.
ALSO GROWS
lashon: Tongue; speech or language.
לָשׁוֹן
The singular form holds the physical tongue and the language it speaks in one word.
leshonot: Tongues; languages.
לְשֹׁנוֹת
The plural names the variety of languages that distinguishes one people from another.
THE PATTERN
Human communities take shape through distinct tongues, kinships, nations, and bounded places.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.Genesis 25:23 uses the same root, פרד, for two nations that become distinct within one womb. Here, that language of differentiation extends across families, tongues, and lands.
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