Genesis gives Peleg a name with a reason attached: “for in his days was the earth divided.” That is all the text says about the division, and readers have long differed over what was divided and how. Peleg was a son of Eber, a few generations after the flood, and brother to Joktan. His own line is plain enough in Genesis 11, where he fathers Reu at thirty. The family lists repeat in 1 Chronicles 1. Genesis 10:25 is the verse to start with.
7 verses
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother's name was Joktan.
Eber, Peleg, Reu,
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Division, one of the sons of Eber; so called because “in his days was the earth divided” (Gen. 10:25). Possibly he may have lived at the time of the dispersion from Babel. But more probably the reference is to the dispersion of the two races which sprang from Eber, the one spreading towards Mesopotamia and Syria, and the other southward into Arabia.
William Smith, 1884
(division, part), son of Eber and brother of Joktan. (Genesis 10:25; 11:16) The only incident connected with his history is the statement that "in his days was the earth divided." an event embodied in the meaning of his name --"division." The reference is to a division of the family of Eber himself, the younger branch of which (the Joktanids) migrated into southern Arabia, while the elder remained in Mesopotamia.