Ham’s Descendants

6 Ham’s sons were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

7 Cush’s sons were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtecah. And Raamah’s sons were Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush also had a son named Nimrod, who was the first person on earth to be a powerful ruler. 9 He was also a great hunter whom Yahweh blessed. That is why people say about other great men, “That man is like Nimrod, a great hunter whom Yahweh blessed.” 10 Nimrod started ruling as king over the cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, which were all located in the region of Shinar. 11 From there he went to the region of Assyria, where he built the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen, which is located between the cities of Nineveh and the great city of Calah.

13 Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Casluhites, and Caphtorites. The Philistines descended from the Casluhites.

15 Canaan had Sidon who was his firstborn son. He was also the ancestor of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Later, those families that descended from Canaan spread out, 19 so that the territory where they lived reached from the city of Sidon in the north, all the way south toward the city of Gerar to the city of Gaza, then as far east as the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, all the way to the city of Lasha.

20 Those people were Ham’s descendants and each one had his own family. Each family grew and became its own people group that spoke its own language and lived in its own territory.