Genesis 10:1–11:9

The Table of Nations

10 This is the accountb of Shem, Ham and Japheth,c Noah’s sons,d who themselves had sons after the flood.

The Japhethites

10:2–5pp—1Ch 1:5–7

2 The sonsa of Japheth:

Gomer,e Magog,f Madai, Javan,g Tubal,h Mesheki and Tiras.

3 The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz,j Riphath and Togarmah.k

4 The sons of Javan:

Elishah,l Tarshish,m the Kittitesn and the Rodanites.b 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)o

The Hamites

10:6–20pp—1Ch 1:8–16

6 The sons of Ham:

Cush,p Egypt, Putq and Canaan.r

7 The sons of Cush:

Seba,s Havilah,t Sabtah, Raamahu and Sabteka.

The sons of Raamah:

Shebav and Dedan.w

8 Cush was the fatherc of Nimrod,x who became a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mightyy hunterz before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon,a Uruk,b Akkad and Kalneh,c ind Shinar.e d 11 From that land he went to Assyria,e where he built Nineveh,f Rehoboth Ir,f Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

13 Egypt was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistinesg came) and Caphtorites.h

15 Canaani was the father of

Sidonj his firstborn,g k and of the Hittites,l 16 Jebusites,m Amorites,n Girgashites,o 17 Hivites,p Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites,q Zemarites and Hamathites.r

Later the Canaanites clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaant reached from Sidonu toward Gerarv as far as Gaza,w and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim,x as far as Lasha.

20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

The Semites

10:21–31pp—Ge 11:10–27; 1Ch 1:17–27

21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother wash Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.y

22 The sons of Shem:

Elam,z Ashur,a Arphaxad,b Lud and Aram.c

23 The sons of Aram:

Uz,d Hul, Gether and Meshek.i

24 Arphaxad was the father ofj Shelah,

and Shelah the father of Eber.e

25 Two sons were born to Eber:

One was named Peleg,k because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

26 Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal,f Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,g 29 Ophir,h Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons,i according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earthj after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole world had one languagek and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,a they found a plain in Shinarb l and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricksm and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,n and taro for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,p so that we may make a nameq for ourselves; otherwise we will be scatteredr over the face of the whole earth.”s

5 But the Lord came downt to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same languageu they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let usv go downw and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”x

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,y and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babelc z—because there the Lord confused the languagea of the whole world.b From there the Lord scatteredc them over the face of the whole earth.