A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 10
Genesis 10 is the tenth chapter of the book of Genesis and the Bible's table of nations. The 32-verse chapter traces the descendants of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, after the flood, mapping the spread of peoples across the ancient world.
The chapter is organized by son. The descendants of Japheth come first. They include Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras, and they are described as the maritime peoples who spread out into the coastlands, each according to his language, clan, and nation.
The descendants of Ham come next. His sons are Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. From Cush comes Nimrod, who is the chapter's only named figure to receive his own narrative aside. He is described as "a mighty hunter before the LORD," and the saying "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD" is recorded as a proverb. Nimrod founds the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar, and goes on to establish Nineveh and Calah in Assyria. Mizraim is the ancestor of the Egyptians and the Philistines. From Canaan come the inhabitants of cities later destroyed in the biblical narrative, including Sidon, Gaza, Sodom, and Gomorrah.
The descendants of Shem come last. Shem is named the ancestor of all the sons of Eber, the line that the rest of the Bible will follow. Shem's sons are Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. From Arphaxad the line proceeds to Eber, whose son Peleg is named for the time when "the earth was divided," likely a reference back to the scattering at Babel that the next chapter will narrate. The chapter records Joktan, Peleg's brother, as the ancestor of a long list of Arabian peoples.
The chapter closes by repeating that these are the clans of Noah's sons, listed according to their lines of descent, and that from them the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
Verse 1. This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
Verse 2. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
Verse 3. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
Verse 4. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites.
Verse 5. From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
Verse 6. The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
Verse 7. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
Verse 8. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth.
Verse 9. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”
Verse 10. His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Verse 11. From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
Verse 12. and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.
Verse 13. Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites,
Verse 14. the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites.
Verse 15. And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
Verse 16. the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,
Verse 17. the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,
Verse 18. the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans were scattered,
Verse 19. and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
Verse 20. These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
Verse 21. And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.
Verse 22. The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
Verse 23. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
Verse 24. Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.
Verse 25. Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.
Verse 26. And Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
Verse 27. Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
Verse 28. Obal, Abimael, Sheba,
Verse 29. Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
Verse 30. Their territory extended from Mesha to Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
Verse 31. These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
Verse 32. All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
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