References (15)
And Noah was 500 years old.
And Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
[For the first time, the Hebr. word ben appears before the age. The phrase literally becomes: 'Noah, a son of 500 years', see also ; ; . Noah's name is also repeated here, which is unique; in previous generations, "he" is used. Here, Noah's formula is interrupted. The end is found only at the end of Noah's continued story in .]
Noah became the father of three sons:
Shem,
Cham (Ham), and
Japheth.
On this very day (literally: on the leg/power of the day) [in the middle of the day, completely open for all to see], Noah (Hebr. Noach) and his [three] sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and his three daughters-in-law had entered the ark.
[They had begun boarding seven days earlier, and now on the seventh day, when the waters began to rise, they went on board. Both animals and humans are mentioned in pairs (man/woman and male/female, see ; ; ). Polygamy existed in society, but is described in negative terms, see Lamech in .]
Noah's sons who left the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan [who was born later].
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness [genitals – Hebr. ervah] and told his two brothers outside (the tent).
[Here comes a new "toledot unit" (the fifth of twelve in Gen.). The Hebrew word is used eleven times in Gen., see ; ; ; ; , ; , ; , ; . The chapter provides a genealogy of all the peoples of the earth. The division is not only genealogical but also geographical, linguistic, and historical, see verses 5, 20, and 31.]
This is the continued story of Noah's (Hebr. Noach) sons (their genealogy/family tree – Hebr. ),
Shem,
Ham,
and Japheth.
Sons were born to them [Noah's three sons] after the flood.
[Noah's three sons were:
Japheth – probably the eldest son, see . He was born when Noah was 500 years old, see . Shem (Sem) – probably the middle son. He was 100 years old two years after the flood, see . Since the flood came when Noah was 600 years old, he must have been born when Noah was 502 years old, and is thus two years younger than Japheth. The reason he is mentioned first in all lists, here in and in ; ; ; , is that his family tree leads to Abraham and ultimately to the Messiah, see ! Ham – the youngest son, see . How much younger he is is not stated, but he was born before the flood. In , the order was Shem, Ham, and Japheth. When their genealogy is described below in verses 2-32, the order is reversed with Japheth first (), then Ham (), and finally Shem (). This is a typical chiastic pattern in several parts, which means that the story of the Tower of Babel, see , is framed by Shem's family tree, which continues in .]
[A total of 30 descendants of Ham are mentioned. Ham's sons mainly moved southwest towards Egypt and North Africa, but also to the Arabian Peninsula. Canaan (who lived in the land of Canaan that the Israelites conquered) also belongs to this group.]
The sons of Cham (Ham) were:
Cush [meaning "black"; corresponds to the African kingdom of Nubia; present-day southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan] and
Mitsrajim [Egypt] and
Put (Hebr. Pot) [corresponds to present-day Libya, see ; ; ] and
Canaan [present-day Israel].
These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.
Noah (Hebr. Noach) [his sons were] –
Shem,
Ham, and
Japheth.
The sons of Ham were:
Cush [African kingdom of Nubia; present-day southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan]
and Mizraim [Egypt]
and Put (Hebr. Pot) [corresponds to present-day Libya, see ; ; ]
and Canaan [present-day Israel].
They found lush (abundant, rich) and good pasture, and the land had enough space. And it was peaceful and quiet, for those who lived there before were Hamites.
He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt [],
the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
[Descendants of Noah's second son, .]
Israel also came to Egypt
and Jacob traveled to the land of Ham (Hebr. Cham) [Egypt, see ].
They sometimes performed his various signs,
miracles [] in the land of Ham [Egypt, see ].
wonderful things in the land of Ham
[another name for Egypt after Noah's son Ham, whose descendants settled in Africa],
terrible things at the Red Sea.
