Genesis 10:22

10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, ¹  Asshur, ²  Arphaxad, ³  Lud, ⁴  and Aram. ⁵ 

Genesis 10:24

10:24 Arphaxad was the father of ⁶  Shelah, ⁷  and Shelah was the father of Eber. ⁸ 

Genesis 11:12

11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.

Genesis 11:11

11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other ⁹  sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:10

The Genealogy of Shem

11:10 This is the account of Shem.

Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

Genesis 11:13

11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other ¹⁰  sons and daughters. ¹¹ 

[10:22]  ¹ sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.

[10:22]  ² 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.

[10:22]  ³ sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.

[10:22]  ⁴ sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.

[10:22]  ⁵ sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.

[10:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:24]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “Arphaxad fathered Shelah”; the LXX reads “Arphaxad fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered Sala [= Shelah].” The LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

[10:24]  ⁸ sn Genesis 11 traces the line of Shem through Eber (עֵבֶר, ’ever ) to Abraham the “Hebrew” (עִבְרִי, ’ivri).

[11:11]  ¹¹ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ¹⁶ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ¹⁷ tc The reading of the MT is followed in vv. 11-12; the LXX reads, “And [= when] Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan, Arphaxad lived four hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died. And [= when] Cainan had lived one hundred and thirty years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah]. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah], Cainan lived three hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died.” See also the note on “Shelah” in Gen 10:24; the LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.