Ezekiel 30:5

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.

Genesis 10:6

10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, ⁴  Mizraim, ⁵  Put, ⁶  and Canaan. ⁷ 

Genesis 10:1

The Table of Nations

10:1 This is the account ⁸  of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons ⁹  were born ¹⁰  to them after the flood.

Genesis 1:8

1:8 God called the expanse “sky.” ¹¹  There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

Nahum 3:9

3:9 Cush ¹²  and Egypt had limitless strength; ¹³ 

Put and the Libyans ¹⁴  were among ¹⁵  her ¹⁶  allies. ¹⁷ 

[30:5]  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.

[30:5]  ² tn Heb “sons.”

[30:5]  ³ tn The expression “sons of the covenant land” possibly refers to Jews living in Egypt (Jer 44).

[10:6]  ⁴ sn The descendants of Cush settled in Nubia (Ethiopia).

[10:6]  ⁵ sn The descendants of Mizraim settled in Upper and Lower Egypt.

[10:6]  ⁶ sn The descendants of Put settled in Libya.

[10:6]  ⁷ sn The descendants of Canaan lived in the region of Phoenicia (Palestine).

[10:1]  ⁸ 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.

[10:1]  ⁹ 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.

[10:1]  ¹⁰ 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.

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn Though the Hebrew word can mean “heaven,” it refers in this context to “the sky.”

[3:9]  ¹² 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).

[3:9]  ¹³ 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.

[3:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Lubim.” Most modern English versions render this as “Libya” or “the Libyans.”

[3:9]  ¹⁵ 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).

[3:9]  ¹⁶ 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.

[3:9]  ¹⁷ 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.