The Descendants of the Sons of Noah

10 These are the generationsa of the sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Childrenb were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread out through their lands, each according to his own language by their own families, in their nations.

6 And the sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 And Cush fathered Nimrod. ⌊He was the first on earth to be a mighty warrior⌋.c 9 He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it was said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.” 10 Now,d the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went out to Assyria, and he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 And Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.

15 Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon ⌊in the direction of⌋e Gerar as far as Gaza, and ⌊in the direction of⌋f Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the descendantsg of Ham, according to their families and their languages, in their lands, and in their nations.

21 And to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the older brother of Japheth, children were also born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 And the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 And Arphaxad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 And to Eber two sons were born. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Joktan. 26 And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling place ⌊extended from⌋h Mesha ⌊in the direction of⌋i Sephar to the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, and according to their nations.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generationsj and in their nations. And from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 Nowa the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migratedb from the east they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said ⌊to each other⌋,c “Come, let us make bricks and ⌊burn them thoroughly⌋.”d And they had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 Thene Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that ⌊humankind⌋f was building. 6 And Yahweh said, “Behold, ⌊they are one people with one language⌋,g and ⌊this is only the beginning of what they will do⌋.h Soi now nothing that they intend to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand ⌊each other’s language⌋.”j 8 So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, for there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth, and there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.