The Curse of Canaan

18  The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19  These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.

20  Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard. 21  When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22  Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. 23  Shem and Japheth took the garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24  When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor he learned what his youngest son had done to him. 25  So he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!

The lowest of slaves

he will be to his brothers.”

26  He also said,

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

May Canaan be the slave of Shem!

27  May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers!

May he live in the tents of Shem

and may Canaan be his slave!”

28  After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29  The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.

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

2  The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3  The sons of Gomer were Askenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4  The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Dodanim. 5  From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.

6  The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7  The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

8  Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a valiant 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 primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. 11  From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, 12  and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

13  Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14  Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorites.

15  Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, Heth, 16  the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17  Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18  Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 19  and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20  These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

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

22  The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23  The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24  Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber. 25  Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was 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  Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern hills. 31  These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

32  These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.

11  The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2  When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3  Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 4  Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”

5  But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. 6  And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7  Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”

8  So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. 9  That is why its name was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.