1This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
2The sons1 of Japheth:
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.
3The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
4The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim.2 5(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)
6The sons of Ham:
Cush, Mizraim,3 Put and Canaan.
7The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca.
The sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.
8Cush was the father4 of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in5 Shinar.6 11From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,7 Calah 12and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
13Mizraim was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.
15Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn,8 and of the Hittites, 16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans scattered 19and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
1 in v.2 Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.
2 in v.4 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanim
3 in v.6 That is, Egypt; also in verse 13
4 in v.8 Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.
5 in v.10 Or Erech and Akkad—all of them in
6 in v.10 That is, Babylonia
7 in v.11 Or Nineveh with its city squares
8 in v.15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost