The Meaning of Genesis 10:4 Explained

Genesis 10:4

KJV: And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

YLT: And sons of Javan are Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

Darby: And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

ASV: And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And the sons  of Javan;  Elishah,  and Tarshish,  Kittim,  and Dodanim. 

What does Genesis 10:4 Mean?

Chapter Summary: Genesis 10

1  The generations of Noah
2  Japheth
6  Ham
8  Nimrod becomes the first monarch; the descendants of Canaan
21  The sons of Shem

What do the individual words in Genesis 10:4 mean?

And the sons of Javan Elishah and Tarshish Kittim and Dodanim
וּבְנֵ֥י : יָוָ֖ן אֱלִישָׁ֣ה וְתַרְשִׁ֑ישׁ כִּתִּ֖ים וְדֹדָנִֽים

וּבְנֵ֥י  And  the  sons 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
: יָוָ֖ן  of  Javan 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יָוָן  
Sense: a son of Japheth and grandson of Noah.
אֱלִישָׁ֣ה  Elishah 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלִישָׁה  
Sense: descendant of Noah, son of Javan; perhaps ancestor of the Aeolians.
וְתַרְשִׁ֑ישׁ  and  Tarshish 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: תַּרְשִׁישׁ 
Sense: son of Javan. 2 a Benjamite, son of Bilhan. 3 one of the wise men close to king Ahasuerus of Persia. 4 a city of the Phoenicians in a distant part of the Mediterranean Sea to which the prophet Jonah was trying to flee.
כִּתִּ֖ים  Kittim 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: כִּתִּיִּים  
Sense: a general term for all islanders of the Mediterranean Sea.
וְדֹדָנִֽים  and  Dodanim 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Proper Noun, masculine plural
Root: דֹּדָנִים 
Sense: sons or descendants of Javan.