Genesis 10

¹These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, to whom children were born after the flood.

²The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.[#1 Chr 1:5–10.; #: the Cimmerians; : the Medes; : the Greeks.; #Ez 38:2.]

³The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath and Togarmah.[#: an Indo-European people, which later became the medieval rabbinic name for Germany. It now designates one of the great divisions of Judaism, Eastern European Yiddish-speaking Jews.]

⁴The descendants of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim.[#: Cyprus; : certain inhabitants of Cyprus; : the inhabitants of Rhodes.]

⁵From these branched out the maritime nations.

These are the descendants of Japheth by their lands, each with its own language, according to their clans, by their nations.

⁶The descendants of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan.[#: biblical Ethiopia, modern Nubia. : Lower (i.e., northern) Egypt; : either Punt in East Africa or Libya.]

⁷The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush became the father of Nimrod, who was the first to become a mighty warrior on earth.[#: here seems to be Cossea, the country of the Kassites; see note on 2:10–14. : possibly Tukulti-Ninurta I (thirteenth century B.C.), the first Assyrian conqueror of Babylonia and a famous city-builder at home.]

⁹He was a mighty hunter in the eyes of the Lord ; hence the saying, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the eyes of the Lord .”

¹⁰His kingdom originated in Babylon, Erech and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar.[#: the land of ancient Babylonia, embracing Sumer and Akkad, present-day southern Iraq, mentioned also in 11:2; 14:1.]

¹¹From that land he went forth to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,[#: lit., “wide-streets city,” was probably not the name of another city, but an epithet of Nineveh; cf. Jon 3:3.]

¹²as well as Resen, between Nineveh and Calah, the latter being the principal city.[#: Assyrian Kalhu, the capital of Assyria in the ninth century B.C.]

¹³Mizraim became the father of the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim,[#1 Chr 1:11–16.]

¹⁴the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim from whom the Philistines came.[#: the people of Upper (southern) Egypt; cf. Is 11:11; Jer 44:1; Ez 29:14; 30:13. : Crete; for Caphtor as the place of origin of the Philistines, cf. Dt 2:23; Am 9:7; Jer 47:4.]

¹⁵Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and of Heth;[#: the biblical Hittites; see note on 23:3.]

¹⁶also of the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward, the clans of the Canaanites spread out,

¹⁹so that the Canaanite borders extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar, near Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, near Lasha.

²⁰These are the descendants of Ham, according to their clans, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.

²¹To Shem also, Japheth’s oldest brother and the ancestor of all the children of Eber, children were born.[#: the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, that is, the one to whom they traced their name.]

²²The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram.[#1 Chr 1:17–23.]

²³The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash.

²⁴Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.

²⁵To Eber two sons were born: the name of the first was Peleg, for in his time the world was divided; and the name of his brother was Joktan.[#In the Hebrew text there is a play on the name Peleg and the word niplega , “was divided.”]

²⁶Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

²⁹Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan.

³⁰Their settlements extended all the way from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country.

³¹These are the descendants of Shem, according to their clans, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.

³²These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their origins and by their nations. From these the nations of the earth branched out after the flood.