Prophecies about Noah’s Family

¹⁸ Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.^(A)

²⁰ Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting^[a] a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.^{(B) 23} Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

²⁴ When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said:

²⁶ He also said:

²⁸ Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹ So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.

The Table of Nations

10 These are the family records^(A) of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood.

² Japheth’s sons:^(B) Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish,^(C) Kittim, and Dodanim.^{[a] 5} From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language.

⁶ Ham’s sons:^(D) Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. ⁹ He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.” ¹⁰ His kingdom started with Babylon,^(E) Erech,^[b] Accad,^[c] and Calneh,^[d] in the land of Shinar.^{[e](F) 11} From that land he went to Assyria^(G) and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

¹³ Mizraim^[f](H) fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, ¹⁴ Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor.^(I)

¹⁵ Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, ¹⁶ as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,^{(J) 17} the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. ¹⁹ The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.

²⁰ These are Ham’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

²¹ And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber.^{(K) 22} Shem’s sons^(L) were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

²³ Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴ Arpachshad fathered^[g] Shelah,^(M) and Shelah fathered Eber. ²⁵ Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg,^[h] for during his days the earth was divided;^(N) his brother was named Joktan. ²⁶ And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons. ³⁰ Their settlements extended from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country.

³¹ These are Shem’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

³² These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their family records, in their nations. The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.^(O)

The Tower of Babylon

11 The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. ² As people migrated from the east,^[a] they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{(A) 3} They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt^(B) for mortar.) ⁴ And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky.^(C) Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down^(D) to look over the city and the tower that the humans^[b] were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth,^(E) and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore it is called Babylon,^[c][d](F) for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.