Shem’s Sons

²¹ Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. One of his descendants was the father of all the sons of Eber [^Cthe Israelites were descended from Shem through Eber].

²² The sons of Shem were Elam [^Ca country east of Mesopotamia], Asshur [^Cin northern Mesopotamia], Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram [^Cnorth of Israel in Syria].

²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

²⁴ Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, who was the father of Eber. ²⁵ Eber was the father of two sons—one named Peleg [^Crelated to the Hebrew word for “divided”], because the earth was divided during his life, and the other was named Joktan.

²⁶ Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these people were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ They lived in the area between Mesha and Sephar in the hill country in the East.

³¹ These are the people from the ·family [clans] of Shem, arranged by ·families [clans], languages, countries, and nations.

³² This is the list of the ·families [clans] from the sons of Noah, arranged according to their nations. From these ·families [clans] came all the nations who ·spread [branched out] across the earth after the flood.