Genesis 10:1-32

This is the story of the descendants of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the great flood, they fathered many children. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Cyprus, and Rhodes. All of Japheth’s descendants lived in their respective tribes and regions, each group speaking its own language. From there, the people spread to distant shores and faraway lands. The sons of Ham were Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. Cush also had a son named Nimrod, who became known as the first mighty conqueror. He was a mighty despot before YAHWEH. There was a saying, “Like Nimrod, a mighty despot before YAHWEH.” The centers of his kingdom , Babel, Erech, and Akkad, were in the land of Shinar. From there, he went into Assyria and built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen (which is between the great city of Calah and Nineveh). Egypt was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Casluhites, and Caphtorites (the ancestors of the Philistines). Canaan was the father of Sidon (his firstborn), the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. The families of the Canaanites eventually scattered across the Canaanite territory extending from Sidon toward Gerar to Gaza including Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These were the descendants of Ham by families, lands, languages, and nations. Shem, the older brother of Japheth, also had sons and was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber, who were also known as “Hebrews.” The sons of Shem were Elam, Assyria, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, the father of Eber. Eber was the father of two sons: Peleg, (or “Division,” for during his lifetime the earth was divided), and his brother Joktan, the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All the descendants of Joktan lived in the territory that extends all the way from Mesha toward the eastern hills of Sephar. These were the families of Shem according to their genealogies, by their families, lands, languages, and nations. After the flood, Noah’s descendants formed nations as the people spread throughout the earth.