About Noah's descendants

1These are the names of Noah's descendants. His three sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. They all had sons after the flood.

2These were Japheth's sons. Their names were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

3And these were the sons of Gomer, the eldest son. Their names were Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

4And these were the sons of his younger brother, Javan. Their names were Elishah, Spain, Cyprus and Rhodes.

5Later on the descendants of Elishah and his brothers spread along the coast and on the islands. So they became separate tribes, one group in one place and another group in another place. Each tribe spoke its own language. They all lived separately but they had the same ancestor Japheth.

6These were the sons of Ham. He was Japheth's younger brother. Their names were Cush, Egypt, Libya and Canaan.

7These were the sons of the eldest, Cush. Their names were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. And Raamah's two sons were called Sheba and Dedan.

8Cush had another son called Nimrod. He was the first to rule over other people as well as his own family.

9Yahweh helped him and so he was a very good hunter. That is why people say to each other today, “May Yahweh help you too, so that you can be a good hunter like Nimrod was long ago.”

10First Nimrod ruled over three cities, Babylon, Erech and Accad. They were all in Babylonia.

11Then he went from Babylonia to Assyria and there his workers built many houses. They went on and on building until there were four cities called Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah

12and Resen. Resen was between Nineveh and the big city Calah.

13Ham's son, Egypt, had seven sons. Their names were Lydia, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh,

14Pathrus, Casluh and Caphtor. Caphtor, Egypt's youngest son, was the ancestor of the Philistine people. The descendants of Egypt were named after Lydia and his brothers.

15Ham's son, Canaan, had two sons called Sidon and Heth. Sidon was the firstborn,

16but Canaan also had other sons, so he was the ancestor of very many people. They were the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

17the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

18the Arvadites, the Zemarites and the Hamathites. These people spread out, until they became separate tribes, one group in one place and another group in another place.

19All their areas were called by the one name Canaan, so Canaan was a very big country. The different places in Canaan spread from Sidon down to Gerar in the south near Gaza. And they went right over to the east, as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which is near Lasha.

20All the tribes lived separately, one group in one place and another group in another place. And each tribe spoke its own language. They all lived separately but they had the same ancestor Ham.

21Shem, Noah's first son, was the first of the Hebrew people.

22These were Shem's sons. Their names were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram.

23And Aram's sons were called Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.

24Arpachshad's son was called Shelah, and Shelah's son was called Eber.

25Eber had two sons. One of them was called Peleg, and while he was alive all the people spread out and separated. So they called him Peleg, because Peleg means “they were separated.” And his brother was Joktan.

26Joktan's sons were called Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

28Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

29Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. They were all Joktan's sons.

30The land belonging to those people went from Mesha over to Sephar in the eastern hill country.

31They became separate tribes, one group in one place and another group in another place. And each tribe spoke its own language. They all lived separately but they had the same ancestor Shem.

32All those many people were the descendants of Noah. They followed after Noah's sons until there were many separate nations. After the flood all those people separated into different groups all over the world.