Genesis 10

²Japheth's sons were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. From these sons would come the peoples of the northern coasts, the islands of the sea, and the lands stretching north and west.

³Gomer's sons were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah — who became the forebears of more peoples spreading across the earth, filling the northern regions and beyond.

⁴Javan's sons — Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim — became the peoples of the Mediterranean coastlands. Javan became the name for Greece in Hebrew, so these were the peoples of the Greek world.

⁵From Japheth's sons came all the peoples of the coastlands and islands — each one with their own language, their own family, their own nation. God gave each people their own place and their own identity.

⁶Ham's sons were Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. These four became the forebears of the peoples of Africa, Egypt, and the lands of Canaan. From Ham's family, vast and ancient civilisations would grow.

⁷Cush's sons and grandsons — Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabtecha, Sheba, and Dedan — spread out and became more peoples of Africa and the southern Arabian peninsula. Each name is a nation, a family, a story that God knew.

⁸Cush also had a son named Nimrod, who became famous as the mightiest man on earth. He was a powerful builder and warrior — the first great empire-builder in history. But his greatness was built for his own name, not for God.

⁹Nimrod was known as a great hunter before God. He became so famous that people began to say about someone very strong: 'He is like Nimrod, the mighty hunter!' His name became a saying for great power.

¹⁰Nimrod built the first great kingdom — starting with Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. Babel! That name will come up again very soon in the story. It was Nimrod who first built there.

¹¹From Shinar, Asshur went out and built Nineveh and other great cities. Nineveh! That city will appear again in the Bible — it is where God would send the prophet Jonah hundreds of years later.

¹²Between Nineveh and Calah, another great city was built — Resen. The ancient world was being filled with great cities, all settled by Noah's descendants.

¹³Mizraim — the ancestor of Egypt — had sons who became more peoples: Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, and Naphtuhim. These became the peoples of north Africa and the regions around Egypt.

¹⁴More of Mizraim's descendants: Pathrusim, Casluhim — and the Philistines came from Casluhim! The Philistines will appear many times in the Bible — they are related to Egypt, and they trace back right here to Noah's family.

¹⁵Canaan's firstborn son was Sidon, and he also had a son named Heth. Sidon became a great city on the Mediterranean coast, and from Heth came the Hittites — a powerful ancient people.

¹⁶More of Canaan's descendants became the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Girgasites — peoples who would live in the land of Canaan when Abraham and his descendants arrived there.

¹⁷More of Canaan's sons became the Hivites, the Arkites, and the Sinites — more peoples of the ancient Canaanite world, each with their own land and language.

¹⁸The final sons of Canaan — the Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites — spread out further. And after all of them, the families of the Canaanites spread wider and wider across the land, filling every valley and hilltop.

¹⁹The land of the Canaanites stretched from the great city of Sidon in the north all the way down through Gerar and Gaza, and across to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Lasha. This was a large and important region in the ancient world.

²⁰This is the summary of Ham's descendants: all the families that came from him, speaking their different languages, living in their different countries, forming their own nations. God saw every one of them.

²¹Now we come to Shem — the eldest brother. Shem was the ancestor of all the children of Eber, which is where the word 'Hebrew' comes from! From Shem came the Semitic peoples — including, eventually, Abraham and the whole line of God's covenant family.

²²Shem's children were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. Elam became Persia. Asshur became Assyria. Aram became Syria. And Arphaxad — from his line came Abraham himself.

²³Aram's children were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. The land of Uz will appear again in the Bible — it is where Job lived! And from Aram came the Aramaic language, which was spoken across the whole Middle East and was one of the languages of Jesus's world.

²⁴Arphaxad became the father of Salah, and Salah became the father of Eber. The name Eber is the source of the word 'Hebrew.' We are getting closer to Abraham — just a few more generations to go!

²⁵Eber had two sons: Peleg and Joktan. Peleg's name means 'division' — because in his lifetime, something happened that divided the earth. This is almost certainly a reference to what we will read about in Genesis 11: the Tower of Babel, when God divided the nations by confusing their languages.

²⁶Joktan — Peleg's brother — had many sons: Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, and Jerah were among the first. Joktan's family became the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula — the ancient tribes of southern Arabia.

²⁷More of Joktan's sons — Hadoram, Uzal, and Diklah — became more peoples of the ancient Arabian world. The world was being filled with people in every direction.

²⁸Obal, Abimael, and Sheba — more of Joktan's sons, more peoples of the ancient world. Sheba in Joktan's line corresponds to a wealthy southern Arabian kingdom. There is also a Sheba in Cush's line — showing that trading peoples from different roots shared names and territories.

²⁹The final sons of Joktan: Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. Ophir was famous in the ancient world for its gold — King Solomon later sent ships to Ophir to bring back gold for the temple! All of these sons of Joktan became peoples of the ancient Arabian and African worlds.

³⁰Joktan's sons settled in the land stretching from Mesha to the mountain of Sephar in the east. They filled their part of the world and made it their home — just as God had intended.

³¹This is the summary of Shem's descendants — all the families that came from him, each with their own language, their own land, their own nation. From Shem came the Semitic peoples, and through Shem's line came Abraham, and through Abraham, Jesus.

³²And this is the great summary: all the families of the world, all the nations on the earth, came from Noah's three sons after the flood. Every person, every people, every language, every country — all of them trace back to Noah's family and to God's promise. What an amazing plan!