30:5 Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners, 1 Libya, and the people 2 of the covenant land 3 will die by the sword along with them.
10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, 4 Mizraim, 5 Put, 6 and Canaan. 7
10:13 Mizraim 8 was the father of 9 the Ludites, 10 Anamites, 11 Lehabites, 12 Naphtuhites, 13
10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, 14 Asshur, 15 Arphaxad, 16 Lud, 17 and Aram. 18
10:1 This is the account 19 of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons 20 were born 21 to them after the flood.
1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: 23 plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, 24 and 25 trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.
46:9 Go ahead and 33 charge into battle, you horsemen!
Drive furiously, you charioteers!
Let the soldiers march out into battle,
those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields,
and those from Lydia 34 who are armed with the bow. 35
3:9 Cush 36 and Egypt had limitless strength; 37
Put and the Libyans 38 were among 39 her 40 allies. 41
1 tn The same expression appears in Exod 12:38; Jer 25:20; 50:37; Neh 13:3. It may refer to foreign mercenaries serving in the armies of the nations listed here.
2 tn Heb “sons.”
3 tn The expression “sons of the covenant land” possibly refers to Jews living in Egypt (Jer 44).
4 sn The descendants of Cush settled in Nubia (Ethiopia).
5 sn The descendants of Mizraim settled in Upper and Lower Egypt.
6 sn The descendants of Put settled in Libya.
7 sn The descendants of Canaan lived in the region of Phoenicia (Palestine).
8 sn Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt (cf. NRSV).
9 tn Heb “fathered.”
10 sn The Ludites were African tribes west of the Nile Delta.
11 sn The Anamites lived in North Africa, west of Egypt, near Cyrene.
12 sn The Lehabites are identified with the Libyans.
13 sn The Naphtuhites lived in Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta region).
14 sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.
15 sn Asshur is the name for the Assyrians. Asshur was the region in which Nimrod expanded his power (see v. 11, where the name is also mentioned). When names appear in both sections of a genealogical list, it probably means that there were both Hamites and Shemites living in that region in antiquity, especially if the name is a place name.
16 sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.
17 sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.
18 sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.
19 tn The title אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot, here translated as “This is the account”) here covers 10:1–11:9, which contains the so-called Table of Nations and the account of how the nations came to be dispersed.
20 sn Sons were born to them. A vertical genealogy such as this encompasses more than the names of sons. The list includes cities, tribes, and even nations. In a loose way, the names in the list have some derivation or connection to the three ancestors.
21 tn It appears that the Table of Nations is a composite of at least two ancient sources: Some sections begin with the phrase “the sons of” (בְּנֵי, bÿne) while other sections use “begot” (יָלָד, yalad). It may very well be that the “sons of” list was an old, “bare bones” list that was retained in the family records, while the “begot” sections were editorial inserts by the writer of Genesis, reflecting his special interests. See A. P. Ross, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Structure,” BSac 137 (1980): 340-53; idem, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Content,” BSac 138 (1981): 22-34.
22 tn Though the Hebrew word can mean “heaven,” it refers in this context to “the sky.”
23 tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.
24 sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).
25 tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.
26 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the lights mentioned in the preceding verses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27 tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).
28 tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).
29 sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).
30 tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).
31 sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).
32 tn Or “islands” (NIV).
33 tn The words “Go ahead and” are not in the text but are intended to suggest the ironical nature of the commands here. The
34 sn The peoples that are referred to here are all known to have been mercenaries in the army of Egypt (see Nah 3:9; Ezek 30:5). The place names in Hebrew are actually Cush, Put, and Lud. “Cush” has already been identified in Jer 13:23 as the region along the Nile south of Egypt most commonly referred to as Ethiopia. The identification of “Put” and “Lud” are both debated though it is generally felt that Put was a part of Libya and Lud is to be identified with Lydia in Asia Minor. For further discussion see M. J. Mellink, “Lud, Ludim” IDB 3:178, and T. O. Lambdin, “Put,” IDB 3:971.
35 tn Heb “who grasp and bend the bow.”
36 sn Cush is the Hebrew name for the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia (also known as Nubia) along the Nile valley south of Aswan in Egypt. Many modern English versions render this “Ethiopia,” but this area is not to be confused with modern Ethiopia (i.e., Abyssinia).
37 tn Or “Cush was limitless and Egypt was strong.” The NIV treats the two nations (“Cush and Egypt”) as a hendiadys of the predicate and translates them as one clause. On the other hand, NJPS treats them separately and translates them in two different clauses.
38 tn Heb “Lubim.” Most modern English versions render this as “Libya” or “the Libyans.”
39 tn The preposition בְּ (bet) in בְּעֶזְרָתֵךְ (bÿ’ezratekh) should probably be taken as a bet of identity rather than in a locative sense (DCH 2:84 s.v. בְּ 7; HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ 3).
40 tc Although the LXX and Syriac read a 3 fs suffix, the 2 fs suffix on MT בְּעֶזְרָתֵךְ (bÿ’ezratekh, “your strength”) should be retained because of the support of 4QpNah, which reads בעזרתך. The MT is the more difficult reading and best explains the origin of the variants, which attempt to harmonize with the preceding 3 fs suffix.
41 tn The Hebrew noun עָזָר (’azar) has been understood in two ways: (1) In the light of the Ugaritic root gzr (“hero, valiant one, warrior”), several scholars posit the existence of the Hebrew root II עָזַר (“warrior”), and translate בְּעֶזְרָתֵךְ (bÿ’ezratekh) as “in your army” (M. Dahood, Psalms, 1:210; P. Miller, “Ugaritic GZR and Hebrew `ZR II,” UF 2 [1970]: 168). (2) It is better to relate the Hebrew עָזָר to Canaanite izirtu (“military help”) which appears several times in the El-Amarna correspondence: “Let him give you soldiers and chariots as help for you so that they may protect the city” (EA 87:13) and “I have provided help for Tyre” (EA 89:18); see K. J. Cathcart, “More Philological Studies in Nahum,” JNWSL 7 (1979): 11.