Genesis 10

This is the record of the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Note"Generations" here translates a Hebrew word (toledoth) used throughout Genesis as a section heading. It does not mean "lifespans" but "the account of what came from" a person, his descendants and what became of them. Most of the names that follow are simultaneously persons and the peoples or cities named after them; several are grammatically plural or gentilic ("the Jebusite," "the Ludim"), so the list reads as a map of the known world as much as a family tree.

2The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

2The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

NoteThese names are associated with peoples living north and west of Israel, in Anatolia, the Aegean and the lands beyond. Gomer is usually connected with the Cimmerians, Madai with the Medes (in what is now Iran), Javan with the Ionians, that is, the Greeks, and Tubal and Meshech with peoples of eastern Asia Minor known from Assyrian records. Magog and Tiras are not securely identified.

3The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

3And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

NoteAshkenaz is generally linked to the Scythians, a horse-riding people north of the Black Sea; Togarmah to a district of eastern Asia Minor named in Hittite and Assyrian texts. (The much later use of "Ashkenaz" for German-speaking Jewry is a medieval development, not the sense here.)

4The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

4And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

NoteThese are Greek and Mediterranean seafaring connections. Kittim refers to Cyprus, especially the city of Kition; Tarshish to a distant port reached by ship, variously placed in Spain, Sardinia or Cilicia, and used in the Bible as a byword for the far west. "Dodanim" appears in some ancient copies as "Rodanim," that is, Rhodes; the Hebrew letters for D and R look nearly identical, and the two readings cannot be decided between.

5From these, the coastland peoples of the nations spread out into their own lands. Each group had its own language, and they were grouped by families, within their nations.

5By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

NoteThe King James "isles of the Gentiles" translates a Hebrew word meaning coasts and islands, the Mediterranean seaboard and its offshore lands, reached by ship rather than by road. "Gentiles" here carries only its old sense of "nations" or "peoples"; the later meaning of "non-Jews" is not in view. "Tongue" means language.

6The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan.

6And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

NoteHam's line covers the south and the lands nearest Egypt. Cush is the region south of Egypt, roughly modern Nubia and Sudan. Mizraim is the ordinary Hebrew name for Egypt; its form is a grammatical dual, often taken to reflect Egypt's two halves, upper and lower. Phut (Put) is a North African region, usually placed in or near Libya. Canaan is the land along the eastern Mediterranean coast that Israel later occupied.

7The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

7And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

NoteThese are trading peoples of Arabia and the Red Sea coasts. Sheba, in southwest Arabia (modern Yemen), and Dedan, an oasis in northwest Arabia, both stood on the incense and spice routes; Havilah is a gold-bearing region of Arabia. Note that Sheba and Havilah appear again in verses 28–29 under Shem, a duplication the chapter leaves standing.

8Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth.

8And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

Note"A mighty one" translates gibbor, a word for a warrior or a man of outstanding strength and standing. "Began to be" suggests being the first of his kind, the first ruler to build power on this scale. Nimrod is not identified with any king known from Mesopotamian records, though the name has been compared to several.

9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. That is why people say, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD."

9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

Note"Before the LORD" is deliberately open in Hebrew. It can mean simply "in the LORD's sight," hence outstandingly or by any reckoning, or it can carry the sense of standing over against God, in defiance. Ancient and modern readers have taken it both ways. The last clause quotes a proverb that evidently circulated about him; "hunter" in the ancient Near East was also royal language, since kings advertised their lion hunts as proof of fitness to rule.

10His kingdom began with Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

NoteBabel is the same Hebrew word as Babylon; the King James keeps the older spelling here and in chapter 11. Erech is Uruk and Accad is Akkad, two of the great cities of southern Mesopotamia. Shinar is the biblical name for the plain of southern Mesopotamia, the region of Sumer and Babylonia, in what is now Iraq. Calneh is unidentified, and some read the Hebrew word not as a place name but as "all of them."

11Out of that land Asshur went out and built Nineveh, the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

11Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

NoteThe Hebrew can be read two ways, and translations divide: either "Asshur" is a person who left Shinar and founded these cities, as the King James takes it, or the words mean "he", Nimrod, "went out into Asshur," that is, Assyria. Nineveh and Calah (modern Nimrud) were the great Assyrian capitals on the Tigris. "Rehoboth" means "broad places" and may be a city name or a description of a district of Nineveh.

12and Resen, which lies between Nineveh and Calah. That is the great city.

12And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

Note"The same is a great city" is ambiguous in the Hebrew: it may describe Resen, or Calah, or the whole cluster of settlements taken together as one great urban sprawl.

13Mizraim was the father of the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim,

13And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

NoteThese names are Hebrew plurals, so they denote peoples rather than individual men, "the Ludim" means the Ludites and so on. They are groups associated with Egypt and its neighbors; most cannot now be located with confidence.

14the Pathrusim, and the Casluhim (the Philistines came from them), and the Caphtorim.

14And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

NotePathrusim refers to Upper Egypt (Pathros, the southern Nile valley). Caphtor is generally identified with Crete and the Aegean world. The parenthesis about the Philistines sits after Casluhim in the Hebrew, but elsewhere the Bible says the Philistines came from Caphtor, so many take the note as belonging to the following name. The Philistines were the people who later occupied the coastal cities of southwest Canaan, including Gaza and Ashdod.

15Canaan was the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and of Heth,

15And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,

NoteSidon was the great Phoenician port on the coast of modern Lebanon. Heth is the ancestral name behind the "children of Heth" or Hittites who appear later in Genesis living in Canaan; whether they are connected to the Hittite empire of Anatolia known from other ancient records is disputed.

16and of the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

16And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,

NoteThese are the resident peoples of Canaan whom Israel later encountered. The Jebusites held Jerusalem before David took it; the Amorites were a widespread Semitic-speaking population known across Mesopotamia and Syria; the Girgashites are named in Canaanite lists but otherwise little known.

17the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

17And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

NoteThe Arkites and Sinites are named from towns on the Phoenician coast and its hinterland, north of Sidon.

18the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the families of the Canaanites spread out.

18And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

NoteArvad was an island city off the Syrian coast, Zemar a coastal town near it, and Hamath a major city on the Orontes river in Syria, so this part of the list runs northward along the Levantine seaboard.

19The border of the Canaanites ran from Sidon toward Gerar, as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, as far as Lasha.

19And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

NoteThe border is described the way a traveler would experience it, "as thou comest" meaning "in the direction you go." It runs from Sidon in the north down the coast past Gerar to Gaza, then inland and south toward the cities of the Dead Sea plain. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim are the cities destroyed in Genesis 19; Lasha is unidentified.

20These are the sons of Ham, listed by their families and their languages, in their countries and their nations.

20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

21Sons were also born to Shem. He was the father of all the children of Eber, and the brother of Japheth the elder.

21Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.

NoteThe Hebrew is ambiguous about who was the elder: it can mean "the brother of Japheth, the elder," making Japheth the older, or "the elder brother of Japheth," making Shem so. Both readings are ancient. Eber matters because his name shares its consonants with the word "Hebrew," and the line to Abraham runs through him.

22The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

22The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

NoteShem's line covers the east and northeast. Elam lay east of Mesopotamia, in what is now southwestern Iran; Asshur is Assyria, on the upper Tigris; Aram is the Aramean territory of Syria; Lud is often connected with Lydia in western Asia Minor. Arphaxad, the ancestor of Abraham's line, has no secure identification.

23The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

23And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

NoteUz is named elsewhere as the homeland of Job. The others are Aramean groups of Syria and the northern desert; "Mash" appears in some copies as Meshech.

24Arphaxad was the father of Salah, and Salah was the father of Eber.

24And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.

Note"Begat" is simply the older English for "fathered." In these lists it need not always mean an immediate son, a name can stand for a descendant several steps removed.

25Two sons were born to Eber. One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided. His brother was named Joktan.

25And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

NoteThe name Peleg sounds like the Hebrew verb palag, "to divide" or "to split," so the verse explains the name by an event. What the division was is left open: it may point to the scattering of peoples at Babel in the next chapter, or to some division of territory, or, on another old suggestion, to the cutting of irrigation channels.

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

26And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

NoteJoktan's sons are peoples of the Arabian peninsula. Hazarmaveth is Hadramaut, a region of southern Arabia (modern Yemen); Sheleph and Almodad correspond to tribal or district names known from South Arabian inscriptions.

27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

27And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

NoteUzal is often identified with a site in Yemen, later associated with the city of Sanaa; Hadoram and Diklah are South Arabian names, the latter perhaps meaning "palm grove."

28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

28And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

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

29And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.

NoteOphir was famous later as the source of the finest gold, reached by sea; its location, somewhere on the Arabian or East African coast, was already uncertain in antiquity.

30The place where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, a mountain in the east.

30And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.

NoteMesha and Sephar cannot now be located; the phrase simply fixes the range of Joktan's territory between two points. "A mount of the east" means the eastern hill country.

31These are the sons of Shem, listed by their families and their languages, in their lands and their nations.

31These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

32These are the families of Noah's sons, listed by their family lines, within their nations. From these the nations of the earth were divided after the flood.

32These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

NoteThe chapter counts seventy peoples in all, a round and complete number in Hebrew usage. It is the world as it was known to the writer's audience, arranged as a family, with no mention of peoples of the far east or the Americas because they lay outside that horizon.