Genesis 10
Big idea: Seventy nations, listed by name, from three brothers. The Table of Nations is Genesis's map of the whole human world — coastlands, city-states, tribes, and empires — and it makes two quiet claims that the rest of the Bible depends on. First, every nation on earth is one family: there is no separate origin for the peoples Israel will fight. Second, the world's political powers are placed in a genealogy, not a pantheon: Babel and Assyria, Egypt and Canaan and the Philistines all descend from a man who got off a boat. Nimrod, the first "mighty one," founds Babel — and the next chapter will show what that kingdom builds.
Chapter 10 spreads humanity over the earth by families, languages and nations — which chapter 11 then explains, by going back to the moment they all still spoke one language and refused to be spread at all.
10:1–5 — The sons of Japheth
A toledot heading introduces the descendants of Noah's three sons, born after the flood. Japheth's line is listed first and briefest — seven sons and their descendants, associated with the coastlands and islands — each spreading into its own land, after its own language and family and nation.
1 Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.
10:6–14 — Ham, and Nimrod the mighty hunter
Ham's line runs to Cush, Mizraim (Egypt), Put, and Canaan — the peoples Israel will most often encounter. The list pauses for a rare narrative aside: Cush fathered Nimrod, who became a mighty one on the earth, a mighty hunter before Yahweh, whose kingdom began at Babel in Shinar and reached into Assyria to build Nineveh.
6 The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh”. 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 13 Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.
10:15–20 — Canaan, and the borders of the land
Canaan's descendants are named one by one — Sidon, Heth, and the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites and the rest — the exact roster of peoples Israel will later be told they are entering among. The section closes by tracing Canaan's borders from Sidon to Gaza and toward Sodom and Gomorrah.
15 Canaan became the father of Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, 16 the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 19 The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go toward Gerar—to Gaza—as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.
10:21–32 — Shem, and the seventy nations
Shem's line comes last and is given the most weight: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram — and through Arpachshad, Shelah and Eber, the ancestor of the Hebrews. Eber's two sons split the line: Peleg, in whose days the earth was divided, and Joktan, whose thirteen sons fill out Arabia. The Table closes with a summary formula covering all seventy nations, divided on the earth after the flood.
21 Children were also born to Shem (the elder brother of Japheth), the father of all the children of Eber. 22 The sons of Shem were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan. 26 Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30 Their dwelling extended from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their families, according to their languages, lands, and nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these on the earth after the flood.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).