By these were the isles, &c.— By isles here we are not to understand merely countries encompassed round by the sea; for the Hebrews use the word to signify all those countries divided from them by the sea. Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 40:15.Jeremiah 2:10. Ezekiel 27:3. Besides, the word we translate isle, signifies a region, country, or province. Job 22:30. Isaiah 20:6. These descendants of Japheth, says Le Clerc, peopled by degrees, with their colonies, Europe and the adjacent islands, besides a large part of Asia; and being widely dispersed through the largest regions, so corrupted their original language, as neither to understand one another, nor to remember their common origin.
Related Commentaries of Genesis 10:5
Genesis 10:5
5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.