Genesis 10:6-10

10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, ¹  Mizraim, ²  Put, ³  and Canaan. ⁴  10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, ⁵  Havilah, ⁶  Sabtah, ⁷  Raamah, ⁸  and Sabteca. ⁹  The sons of Raamah were Sheba ¹⁰  and Dedan. ¹¹ 

10:8 Cush was the father of ¹²  Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter ¹³  before the Lord. ¹⁴  (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”) 10:10 The primary regions ¹⁵  of his kingdom were Babel, ¹⁶  Erech, ¹⁷  Akkad, ¹⁸  and Calneh ¹⁹  in the land of Shinar. ²⁰ 

[10:6]  ¹ sn The descendants of Cush settled in Nubia (Ethiopia).

[10:6]  ² sn The descendants of Mizraim settled in Upper and Lower Egypt.

[10:6]  ³ sn The descendants of Put settled in Libya.

[10:6]  ⁴ sn The descendants of Canaan lived in the region of Phoenicia (Palestine).

[10:7]  ⁵ sn The descendants of Seba settled in Upper Egypt along the Nile.

[10:7]  ⁶ sn The Hebrew name Havilah apparently means “stretch of sand” (see HALOT 297 s.v. חֲוִילָה). Havilah’s descendants settled in eastern Arabia.

[10:7]  ⁷ sn The descendants of Sabtah settled near the western shore of the Persian Gulf in ancient Hadhramaut.

[10:7]  ⁸ sn The descendants of Raamah settled in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ⁹ sn The descendants of Sabteca settled in Samudake, east toward the Persian Gulf.

[10:7]  ¹⁰ sn Sheba became the name of a kingdom in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹¹ sn The name Dedan is associated with àUla in northern Arabia.

[10:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “fathered.” Embedded within Cush’s genealogy is an account of Nimrod, a mighty warrior. There have been many attempts to identify him, but none are convincing.

[10:9]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew word for “hunt” is צַיִד (tsayid), which is used on occasion for hunting men (1 Sam 24:12; Jer 16:16; Lam 3:15).

[10:9]  ¹⁴ tn Another option is to take the divine name here, לִפְנֵי יִהוָה (lifne yÿhvah, “before the Lord [YHWH]”), as a means of expressing the superlative degree. In this case one may translate “Nimrod was the greatest hunter in the world.”

[10:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.

[10:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Babylon.”

[10:10]  ¹⁹ sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.

[10:10]  ²⁰ sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.

[10:10]  ²¹ tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).

[10:10]  ²² sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.