Families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah: Genesis 10

Genesis 10

1 This is the history of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah. Many children were born to them after the Flood.


Descendants of Japheth
2The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

4The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.[a] 5Their descendants became the seafaring peoples in various lands, each tribe with its own language.



Descendants of Ham
6The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim,[b] Put, and Canaan.
7The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.



8One of Cush's descendants was Nimrod, who became a heroic warrior. 9He was a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight.[c] His name became proverbial, and people would speak of someone as being "like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight." 10He built the foundation for his empire in the land of Babylonia,[d] with the cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. 11From there he extended his reign to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12and Resen--the main city of the empire, located between Nineveh and Calah.

13Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.[e]

15Canaan's oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. 19Eventually the territory of Canaan spread from Sidon to Gerar, near Gaza, and to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.



20These were the descendants of Ham, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.



Descendants of Shem
21Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.[f] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

24Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,[g] and Shelah was the father of Eber. 25Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg--"division"--for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups and dispersed. His brother's name was Joktan.

26Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. 30The descendants of Joktan lived in the area extending from Mesha toward the eastern hills of Sephar.



31These were the descendants of Shem, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.
32These are the families that came from Noah's sons, listed nation by nation according to their lines of descent. The earth was populated with the people of these nations after the Flood.



Footnotes:

Genesis 10:4 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version (see also 1 Chr 1:7); most Hebrew manuscripts read Dodanim.
Genesis 10:6 Or Egypt; also in 10:13.
Genesis 10:9 Hebrew a mighty hunter before the LORD; also in 10:9b.
Genesis 10:10 Hebrew Shinar.
Genesis 10:14 Hebrew Casluhites, from whom the Philistines came, Caphtorites. Compare Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7.
Genesis 10:21 Or Shem, whose older brother was Japheth.
Genesis 10:24 Greek version reads Arphaxad was the father of Cainan, Cainan was the father of Shelah.