Genesis 10

International Children’s Bible

Nations Grow and Spread

10 This is the family history of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. After the flood these three men had sons.

Japheth’s Sons

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

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

⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim^[a] and Rodanim. ⁵ Those who lived in the lands around the Mediterranean Sea came from these sons of Japheth. All the families grew and became different nations. Each nation had its own land and its own language.

Ham’s Sons

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

⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush also had a descendant named Nimrod. Nimrod became a very powerful man on earth. ⁹ He was a great hunter before the Lord. That is why people say someone is “like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ At first Nimrod’s kingdom covered Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh in the land of Babylonia. ¹¹ From there he went to Assyria. There he built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir and Calah. ¹² He also built Resen, the great city between Nineveh and Calah.

¹³ Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴ Pathrusites, Casluhites and the people of Crete. (The Philistines came from the Casluhites.)

¹⁵ Canaan was the father of Sidon his first son and of Heth. ¹⁶ Canaan was also the father of the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷ Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸ Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. The families of the Canaanites scattered. ¹⁹ The land of the Canaanites reached from Sidon to Gerar as far as Gaza. And it reached to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰ All these people were the sons of Ham. All these families had their own languages, their own lands and their own nations.

Shem’s Sons

²¹ Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. One of his descendants was the father of all the sons of Eber.

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

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

²⁴ Arphaxad was the father of Shelah. Shelah was the father of Eber. ²⁵ Eber was the father of two sons. One son was named Peleg^[c] because the earth was divided during his life. Eber’s other son was named Joktan.

²⁶ Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these people were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ These people lived in the area between Mesha and Sephar in the hill country in the East.

³¹ These are the people from the family of Shem. They are arranged by families, languages, countries and nations.

³² This is the list of the families from the sons of Noah. They are arranged according to their nations. From these families came all the nations who spread across the earth after the flood.