Genesis 10:6-20

Expanded Bible

Ham’s Sons

⁶The sons of Ham [^Cancestors of near neighbors and rivals of Israel] were Cush [^Cancestor of the Ethiopians], Mizraim [^Cancestor of the Egyptians], Put [^Cperhaps ancestor of the Libyans], and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan [^Csome of their descendants were the people around the Red Sea and southern Arabia].

⁸Cush also had a descendant named Nimrod, who became a very powerful man on earth. ⁹He was a ·great [mighty] hunter before the Lord, which is why people say someone is “like Nimrod, a ·great [mighty] hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰·At first Nimrod’s kingdom covered [^LThe beginning of his kingdom was] Babylon, ·Erech [or Uruk], Akkad, and Calneh [^Cwell-known cities in southern Mesopotamia] in the land of ·Babylonia [^LShinar]. ¹¹From there he went to Assyria [^Cin northern Mesopotamia], where he built the cities of Nineveh, ·Rehoboth Ir [or that is a great city], and Calah. ¹²He also built Resen, the great city between Nineveh and Calah.

¹³Mizraim [10:6] was the father of the ·Ludites [^Cprobably the Lydians], Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the ·people of Crete [^LCaphtorites]. (The Philistines came from the ·Casluhites [or Caphtorites].)

¹⁵Canaan [^Cthe son of Ham whom Noah cursed; 9:25–27] was the father of Sidon [^Cname of a famous coastal city in Syria], his first son, and of Heth [^Cancestor of the Hittites, important inhabitants of Asia Minor]. ¹⁶He was also the father of the Jebusites [^Cpre-Israelite inhabitants of Jerusalem], Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites [^Cpeoples who lived in Syria-Palestine before the Israelites]. The ·families [clans] of the Canaanites scattered. ¹⁹Their land reached from Sidon to Gerar as far as Gaza, and then to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.