Genesis 10:2-32

Descendants of Japheth

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


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


4The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.[a] 5Their descendants became the seafaring peoples in various lands, each tribe with its own language.

Descendants of Ham

6The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim,[b] Put, and Canaan.


7The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

8One of Cush's descendants was Nimrod, who became a heroic warrior. 9He was a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight.[c] His name became proverbial, and people would speak of someone as being "like Nimrod, a mighty hunter in the LORD's sight." 10He built the foundation for his empire in the land of Babylonia,[d] with the cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. 11From there he extended his reign to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12and Resen--the main city of the empire, located between Nineveh and Calah.


13Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.[e]

15Canaan's oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. 19Eventually the territory of Canaan spread from Sidon to Gerar, near Gaza, and to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.

20These were the descendants of Ham, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.

Descendants of Shem

21Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.[f] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber. 22The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.


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


24Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,[g] and Shelah was the father of Eber. 25Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg--"division"--for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups and dispersed. His brother's name was Joktan.


26Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. 30The descendants of Joktan lived in the area extending from Mesha toward the eastern hills of Sephar.

31These were the descendants of Shem, identified according to their tribes, languages, territories, and nations.

32These are the families that came from Noah's sons, listed nation by nation according to their lines of descent. The earth was populated with the people of these nations after the Flood.



Dig Deeper

In giving us the descendants of Noah’s sons we can learn much about the ancient history of the world. The 16 grandsons of Noah were the heads of their family clans. These clans became the large populations in their areas where several interesting things happened. People tended to identify themselves as a clan named after their common ancestor. They would call their land, and quite often their primary city and major river by his name. Occasionally these groups engaged in ancestor worship and named one of their gods after them or claimed them to be god (this was probably encouraged by the fact that many of these men lived for a long time after the flood, much longer than following generations). Here are three examples of the sixteen:


Meshech, mentioned in verse 2, is the ancient name for Moscow. Moscow is both the capital of Russia, and the region that surrounds the city. To this day, one section, the Meschera Lowland, still carries the name of Meshech, virtually unchanged by the ages.


Noah’s grandson mentioned in verse 13 was Mizraim. Mizraim is the Hebrew word for Egypt. The name Egypt appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament and is virtually always a translation of the word Mizraim.


Asshur is the Hebrew word for Assyria. Assyria was one of the great ancient empires. Every time the words Assyria or Assyrian appear in the Old Testament, they are translated from the word Asshur. He was worshipped by his descendants as a god.


Even in a section of the Bible that is easy to overlook, we find some incredible proof that the bible is true and accurate!


For a complete look at Noah’s grandsons:http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/noah.asp



Devotional Thought

One Important thing for Christians to remember is that all humans on earth, no matter our differences, are all descendants of Noah. We are all related. Is this something that you believe or are there people of different cultures or skin shades that you consider different from yourself? Make an effort to look at all people as your relatives and treat them that way.