Genesis 10:1–11:9

Nations Descended from Noah

¹⁰These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; children were born to them after the flood.

²The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.^{* 3}The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴The descendants of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.^{d 5}From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the descendants of Japheth^e in their lands, with their own language, by their families, in their nations.^*

⁶The descendants of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.^{* 7}The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”^{* 10}The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.^{* 11}From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and ¹²Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³Egypt became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,^{* 14}Pathrusim, Casluhim, from whom the Philistines come, and Caphtorim.

¹⁵Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth^{* 16}and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.^{* 19}And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.^{* 20}These are the descendants of Ham, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

²¹To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. ²²The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.^{* 23}The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.^{* 24}Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.^{* 25}To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg,^f for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.^{* 26}Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,^{* 27}Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the descendants of Joktan. ³⁰The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country of the east. ³¹These are the descendants of Shem, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

³²These are the families of Noah’s sons, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.^*

The Tower of Babel

¹¹Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as they migrated from the east,^g they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{* 3}And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”^{* 5}The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.^{* 6}And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.^{* 7}Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”^{* 8}So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.^{* 9}Therefore it was called Babel,^h because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.^*