Descendants of Japheth 1 These are the generations of the sons of Noe: Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer: Ascenez and Riphath and Thogorma. 4 And the sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cetthim, and Dodanim. 5 By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands, every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations.
Descendants of Ham 6 And the sons of Cham: Chus, and Mesram, and Phuth, and Chanaan. 7 And the sons of Chus: Saba and Hevila, and Sabatha, and Regma, and Sabatacha. The sons of Regma: Saba and Dadan. 8 Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty on earth. 9 And he was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb: Even as Nemrod the stout hunter before the Lord.
Nemrod the empire builder 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Arach, and Achad, and Chalanne in the land of Sennaar. 11 Out of that land came forth Assur, and built Ninive, and the streets of the city, and Chale. 12 Resen also between Ninive and Chale: this is the great city.
Extent of the Chanaanite country 13 And Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Laabim, Nepthuim, 14 And Phetrusim, and Chasluim; of whom came forth the Philistines, and the Capthorim. 15 And Chanaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, the Hethite, 16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorrhite, and the Gergesite, 17 The Hevite and the Aracite: the Sinite, 18 And the Aradian, the Samarite, and the Hamathite: and afterwards the families of the Chanaanites were spread abroad. 19 And the limits of Chanaan were from Sidon as one comes to Gerara even to Gaza, until thou enter Sodom and Gomorrha, and Adama, and Seboim even to Lesa. 20 These are the children of Cham in their kindreds, and tongues, and generations, and lands, and nations.
Decsendants of Sem 21 Of Sem also, the father of all children of Heber, the elder brother of Japheth, sons were born. 22 The sons of Sem: Elam and Assur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Us and Hull, and Gether: and Mess. 24 But Arphaxad begot Sale, of whom was born Heber. 25 And to Heber were born two sons: the name of the one was Phaleg, because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother's name Jectan. 26 Which Jectan begot Elmodad, and Saleph, and Asarmoth, Jare, 27 And Anduram, and Uzal, and Decla, 28 And Ebal, and Abimael, Saba, 29 And Ophir, and Hevila, and Jobab. 30 And their dwelling was from Messa as we go on as far as Sephar, a mountain in the east. 31 These are the children of Sem according to their kindreds and tongues, and countries in their nations. 32 These are the families of Noe, according to their peoples and nations. By these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood.
Commentary on Genesis 10
10:2 To Japheth the son of Noah were born seven sons who occupied land in Asia from Amanus and Taurus of Coele-Syria and the mountains of Cilicia as far as the river Don. Then in Europe they occupied land as far as Gadira, leaving behind names for places and peoples, most of which were afterwards changed: others remain as they were. So Gomer actually refers to the Galatians; Magog to the Scythians; Madai to the Medes; Javan to the Ionians who are also the Greeks (from which we get 'the Ionian Sea'); and Thubal to the Iberians who are also the Spaniards from whom derive the Celtiberians, although certain people suppose them to be the Italians. Mosoch refers to the Cappadocians, so that among themselves up to the present day their city is also called Mazeca; Thiras refers to the Thracians, whose name has not been much changed. I know that a certain man has referred Gog and Magog, both as regards the present verse and in Ezekiel, to the account of the Goths who were recently raging in our land: whether this is true is shown by the outcome of the actual battle [recorded in Ezekiel 38-9]. But in fact all learned men in the past had certainly been accustomed to calling the Goths Getae rather than Gog and Magog. So these seven nations, which I have related as coming from the stock of Japheth, live in the region of the north. (St. Jerome)
10:4-5 From the Ionians, that is from the Greeks, were born the Elisaei who are called the descendants of Aeolus; whence also the fifth language of Greece is called aeolis, which they themselves call pemptēn dialekton. Josephus thinks that Tharsis refers to the Cilicians, alleging that the aspirated letter theta has been badly corrupted into the letter tau by later individuals: consequently, their mother-city is called Tarsus, famous for the Apostle Paul. Cethim refers to the Citii, from whom the city of Citium in Cyprus is named up to the present. Dodanim are the inhabitants of Rhodes. (St. Jerome)
10:6 Up to the present day, Ethiopia is called Chus by the Hebrews, Egypt is called Mesraim, and the Libyans Phuth. So it is, then, that up to the present day the river of Mauretania is called Phut, and all the Libyan territory round about it is called Phuthensis. Many writers, both Greek and Latin, are witnesses to this fact. Finally, Chanaan held the land which the Jews later possessed after the Chanaanites had been expelled. (St. Jerome)
10:7 The sons of Chus were Saba and Aevila, Sabatha, Regma, and Sabathaca. Saba is where the Sabaeans come from, of whom Virgil says: The incense tree belongs to the Sabaeans alone, and, elsewhere, And a hundred altars are warm with Sabaean incense. Aevila refers to the Gaetuli who are in the more distant parts of Africa and stay close to the desert. Sabatha: from this derive the Sabatheni, who are nowadays called the Astabari. But Regma and Sabathaca have little by little lost their old names, and it is not known what names they now have instead of their ancient ones. The sons of Regma were Saba and Dadan. Here Saba is written with the letter sin; but above it was written with samech, and we have said that because of this the Sabaeans were so called. But in the present verse Saba refers to Arabia. For in the seventy-first Psalm where we have The kings of the Arabs and Saba shall offer gifts, there is written in the Hebrew: The kings of Saba and Saba, the first word with sin, the second with samech. Dadan is a people in the western region of Ethiopia. (St. Jerome)
10:8-10 Nimrod son of Chus was the first to seize despotic rule over the people, which men were not yet accustomed to; and he reigned in Babylon which was called Babel, because the languages of those building the tower were thrown into confusion there. For Babel signifies confusion. Then he also reigned in Arach, that is in Edissa; and in Achad, which is now called Nisibis; and in Chalanne, which was later called Seleucia after King Seleucus when its name had been changed, and which is now in actual fact called Ktēsiphōn, Ctesiphon. (St. Jerome)
10:11 From this land sprang forth the empire of the Assyrians who founded Ninus (from the name of Ninus son of Bel), a large city which the Hebrews called Ninive. The whole prophecy of Jonah relates both to the destruction and repentance of this |
city. Now in so far as Scripture says Ninive and the city Rooboth, we should not imagine that they were two cities; but because Rooboth means 'streets', it should be read as follows: And he built Ninive and the streets of the city. (St. Jerome)
10:13-14 With the exception of the Laabim, from whom the Libyans were later given their name (they were at first called Phuthaei), and the Chasloim, who were later called Philistines (in debased form we speak of them as Palestinians), the six other nations are unknown to us, because they were overthrown in the Ethiopian war, and reached the stage where their former names were forgotten. They occupied the land from Gaza to the furthest borders of Egypt. (St. Jerome)
10:15 The first-born son of Chanaan was Sidon, from whom the city in Phoenicia is named Sidon. Then there was Aracaeus, who founded Arcas, a town situated over against Tripolis at the foot of Mount Lebanon. Not far away from this was another city, Sinus by name, which was overthrown later in various chances of war and preserves the original name only as the name of the place. The Aradians are those who occupied the island of Aradus, separated by a narrow strait from the Phoenician shore. To the Samaraeans belongs Emissa, a noble city of Coele-Syria. Up to our own time Amath is still called both by Syrians and by Hebrews what it had been called by the ancients: the Macedonians, who ruled in the east after Alexander, called this city Epiphania. Some people think that it was called Antiochia. Others, although not correctly, none the less support their conjecture with a word like the right one and think that it was called Emas, the first stopping-place from Antioch for those continuing the journey to Edessa; and they think that it is the same place which was called Emath by the ancients. (St. Jerome)
10:19 Because the other cities, namely Sidon and Gerar and Sodom and Gomorra and Adama and Seboim are known to everyone, it seems necessary to observe only that the same Lise is what is now called Callirhoe, where hot waters burst forth and flow down into the Dead Sea. (St. Jerome)
10:22 These people occupy the part of Asia from the river Euphrates to the Indian Ocean. Moreover, Elam is the one from whom the Elamite princes of Persia come. It has already been remarked before about Assur that he founded the city of Ninus. Arphaxad is the one from whom derive the Chaldeans, Lud from whom come the Lydians, and Aram from whom come the Syrians, whose mother-city is Damascus. (St. Jerome)
10:23 Us, the founder of Trachonitis and Damascus, held sway between Palestine and Coele-Syria: as a result of this, the Septuagint in the book of job, where in Hebrew is written the land of Us, have translated the territory Ausitis or Usitis. Ul is the one from whom the Armenians come, and Gether the one from whom derive the Acarnanii or Carians. Finally Mes, instead of which the Septuagint have specified Mosoch, are nowadays called the Maeones. (St. Jerome)
10:24 Arphaxad begot Sale: The correct reading comes from the Greek Septuagint which reads, "Arphaxad begot Cainan and Cainan begot Sale." The same goes for Genesis 11:12-13 and 1 Chronicles 1:18. St. Luke, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, followed the Septuagint reading when giving the geneology in Lk 3:36. The Hebrew text that St. Jerome translated from for the Latin Vulgate, as well as the Hebrew text that Bible translators of modern Bibles use today, does not follow the reading of the Septuagint. The Septuagint, being a Greek translation of a more ancient Hebrew text, has preserved the correct reading. (John Litteral)
10:24-25 Heber, from whom the Hebrews descended, because of a prophecy gave his son the name Phaleg which means 'division', on account of the fact that in his days the languages were divided up in Babylon. (St. Jerome)
10:26-29 I am unable to find the later names of these thirteen nations; but until the present day, since they are far away from us they are either called as they were before, or, if their names have been changed, they are now unknown. They occupied the whole territory of India from the river Cophene, which is called Hieria. (St. Jerome) |
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