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 10:22

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

Genesis 10:31

10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

Genesis 6:10

6:10 Noah had ⁶  three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 9:26-27

9:26 He also said,

“Worthy of praise is ⁷  the Lord, the God of Shem!

May Canaan be the slave of Shem! ⁸ 

9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! ⁹ 

May he live ¹⁰  in the tents of Shem

and may Canaan be his slave!”

Genesis 10:1

The Table of Nations

10:1 This is the account ¹¹  of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons ¹²  were born ¹³  to them after the flood.

Genesis 10:21

10:21 And sons were also born ¹⁴  to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), ¹⁵  the father of all the sons of Eber.

Genesis 11:11

11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other ¹⁶  sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:32

5:32 After Noah was 500 years old, he ¹⁷  became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 7:13

7:13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 9:18

The Curse of Canaan

9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ 

Genesis 9:23

9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment ²⁰  and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned ²¹  the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

[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.

[6:10]  ¹ tn Heb “fathered.”

[9:26]  ¹ tn Heb “blessed be.”

[9:26]  ² tn Heb “a slave to him”; the referent (Shem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:27]  ¹ tn Heb “may God enlarge Japheth.” The words “territory and numbers” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:27]  ² tn In this context the prefixed verbal form is a jussive (note the distinct jussive forms both before and after this in vv. 26 and 27).

[10:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[10:21]  ¹ tn Heb “And to Shem was born.”

[10:21]  ² tn Or “whose older brother was Japheth.” Some translations render Japheth as the older brother, understanding the adjective הַגָּדוֹל (haggadol, “older”) as modifying Japheth. However, in Hebrew when a masculine singular definite attributive adjective follows the sequence masculine singular construct noun + proper name, the adjective invariably modifies the noun in construct, not the proper name. Such is the case here. See Deut 11:7; Judg 1:13; 2:7; 3:9; 9:5; 2 Kgs 15:35; 2 Chr 27:3; Neh 3:30; Jer 13:9; 36:10; Ezek 10:19; 11:1.

[11:11]  ¹ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:32]  ¹ tn Heb “Noah.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:13]  ¹ tn Heb “On that very day Noah entered, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with him into the ark.”

[9:18]  ¹ sn The concluding disjunctive clause is parenthetical. It anticipates the following story, which explains that the Canaanites, Ham’s descendants through Canaan, were cursed because they shared the same moral abandonment that their ancestor displayed. See A. van Selms, “The Canaanites in the Book of Genesis,” OTS 12 (1958): 182-213.

[9:23]  ¹ tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

[9:23]  ² tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”