Genesis 10 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
The generations after the flood, a survey of the known world as it stood in roughly the second millennium BC
Location
The whole map known to ancient Israel, stretching from Greece and the Aegean islands in the west to Persia in the east, Anatolia in the north and Egypt and Arabia in the south
Audience
Israelites of the Mosaic era, placing the surrounding nations on a single family tree
Situation
Often called the Table of Nations, this chapter lists seventy peoples descended from Noah's three sons, Japheth, Ham and Shem, and locates each by territory, language and city.
Key Background
Ancient genealogies traced political and geographic relationships as often as strict biological descent, so a name here can stand for a city, a tribe or a whole region. The number seventy signals completeness in Israelite writing, so the list claims to account for the entire human family rather than to be exhaustive in a modern sense. The chapter also introduces Nimrod and the great Mesopotamian cities of Babel, Erech and Nineveh, which sets up both the next chapter and the empires that would later dominate Israel.
This is the of the descendants of Noah's sons -- Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the
The sons of Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
The sons of Gomer: Riphath, and Togarmah.
The sons of Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Dodanim.
From these, the spread out into their own territories, each with their own language, by their clans, within their nations.
The sons of Cush, Put, and Canaan.
The sons of Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
Cush also fathered who became the first on earth.
He was a in Yahweh's sight. That's why people say, "Like Nimrod, a in Yahweh's sight."
The foundation of his kingdom was Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of
From that land he went out to where he built Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah -- that is the great city.
fathered the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim,
the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (from whom the came), and the Caphtorim.
fathered his firstborn, and
as well as the the the Girgashites,
the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,
the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Later, the Canaanite clans spread out.
The Canaanite border ran from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, then toward Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
These are the descendants of Ham, by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
Sons were also born to the older brother of Japheth. was the ancestor of all the descendants of
The sons of Shem: Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and
The sons of Aram: Hul, Gether, and Mash.
Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.
Two sons were born to Eber. The first was named because during his lifetime the earth was divided. His brother's name was Joktan.
Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Jerah,
Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
Obal, Abimael,
Havilah, and Jobab. All of these were sons of Joktan.
Their territory stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
These are the descendants of Shem, by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
These are the clans of Noah's sons, listed by their descent and within their From these, the spread out across the earth after the flood.