Genesis 10

₁Here is the story of the 3 sons of Noah. Their names were Shem, Ham and Japheth. They had children and many descendants. After the flood they had children. Here are their names.

₂The names of the sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras. ₃The names of the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. ₄The names of the sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittitim and Rodanim. ₅They stayed near the sea. They stayed in groups and each group went to stay at a different place. Each group spoke their own language.

₆The names of the sons of Ham were Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. ₇The names of the sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka. ₈The names of the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. ₉Cush was the father of Nimrod. Nimrod was a very good hunter. The Lord made him very strong. That is why even today when people see a man who is a good hunter, they say: ‘He is a good hunter like Nimrod.’

₁₀Nimrod was the first king of the cities of Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh in the land of Babylon. ₁₁Then Nimrod went to the land of Assyria. This is where he built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah. ₁₂Nimrod also built the city of Resen near the cities of Nineveh and Calah, a very big city. ₁₃The people of Egypt were the forefathers of the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naftuh, ₁₄Pathrus, Kasluh, where the Philistines come from, and Caphtor. ₁₅Canaan was the father of Sidon. Sidon was his oldest son. Canaan was also the father of the Hittite people ₁₆and the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ₁₇Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ₁₈Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

After a long time, some of the Canaanite families moved away to other places. ₁₉The land of Canaan was very big. It went from the town of Sidon to the town of Gerar, as far as Gaza. It went from the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, to the town of Lasha. ₂₀All these people were the descendants of Ham. Every family spoke their own language and they stayed in their own land.

₂₁Shem also had descendants. He is the father and forefather of all the Hebrews. Shem had an older brother. His name was Japheth.

₂₂The names of Shem's sons were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. ₂₃The names of Aram's sons were Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek. ₂₄Arphaxad was the father of Shelah and Shelah was the father of Eber. ₂₅Eber had 2 sons. The name of one son was Peleg. In the time that Peleg lived, some of the people started moving away to stay in different places on earth. The name of Eber's other son was Joktan.

₂₆Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ₂₇Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ₂₈Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ₂₉Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. They were all descendants of Joktan. ₃₀They stayed between the towns of Mesha and Sephar in the mountains in the east. ₃₁Shem was the forefather of all these people. Every family spoke their own language and stayed in their own land. They became different nations.

₃₂All of these people are descendants of Noah. They were born many years after God had sent the water flood over the world. All of these families went away and they stayed in different parts of the world.