TABLE OF NATIONS
Opening Prayer
Still my heart now, O God, and make me aware of your presence. Help me to hear your voice as I meditate on your Word.
Read GENESIS 10
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Table of Nations
10 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
The Japhethites
2 The sons[a] of Japheth:
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.[b] 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)
The Hamites
6 The sons of Ham:
Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.
The sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was the father[c] of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in[d] Shinar.[e] 11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,[f] Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.
13 Egypt was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.
15 Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn,[g] and of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
The Semites
21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was[h] Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem:
Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.[i]
24 Arphaxad was the father of[j] Shelah,
and Shelah the father of Eber.
25 Two sons were born to Eber:
One was named Peleg,[k] because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.
26 Joktan was the father of
Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.
Footnotes
- Genesis 10:2 Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.
- Genesis 10:4 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites
- Genesis 10:8 Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.
- Genesis 10:10 Or Uruk and Akkad—all of them in
- Genesis 10:10 That is, Babylonia
- Genesis 10:11 Or Nineveh with its city squares
- Genesis 10:15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost
- Genesis 10:21 Or Shem, the older brother of
- Genesis 10:23 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:17; Hebrew Mash.
- Genesis 10:24 Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of
- Genesis 10:25 Peleg means division.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Take some time to consider the hymn lyric: ‘Thou dost all nations rule, / And their affairs control; / Thy power extends o’er all the earth, / Thy love from pole to pole’ (Anon).Genesis 1–11 takes a wide-angle view of humanity, repeatedly emphasizing that all people are God’s image-bearers, created and blessed by God (1:26–28; 5:1, 2; 9:6, 7). After the flood, God bound himself by a covenant with Noah and his ‘descendants’ for ‘all generations to come’ (9:8–11). It is these ‘descendants’ of Noah who are named in Genesis 10—nations or their founders, including some familiar names: Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Canaan, Sodom, and Gomorrah (vv. 10, 11, 13, 15, 19).
Genesis 10—sometimes called the ‘Table of Nations’—lists 70 nations, and Jesus’ sending out of the 70 (or 72) probably symbolized the good news going to all nations (Luke 10:1). As Christ-followers, we are also commissioned by Jesus to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19).
In Genesis 12, the camera zooms in on Abraham, Israel’s founding father, who comes from the line of Shem (10:31; 11:10–26). Although in most of the Old Testament the camera remains trained on Israel, God’s choice of this one nation never excludes other nations, even though these nations frequently opposed both God and Israel. God’s promise to Abraham was not just to make Israel ‘a great nation’; rather, his purpose is as wide as the world: ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (Genesis 12:2, 3).
Apply
Ask the Lord to show you new ways to be invested in going to the nations, especially those where the gospel is forbidden.
Closing prayer
‘Father of creation, unfold your sovereign plan / Raise up a chosen generation / That will march through the land / Let Your glory fall in this room / Let it go forth from here to the nations.’*
*’Let Your Glory Fall’, David Ruis © 1995 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.