1Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
2The sons of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3The sons of Gomer were: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4The sons of Javan were: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.
6The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were: Sheba and Dedan. 8Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh”. 10The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 13Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.
15Canaan became the father of Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, 16the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. 19The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go toward Gerar—to Gaza—as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha. 20These are the sons of Ham, after their families, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.
21Children were also born to Shem (the elder brother of Japheth), the father of all the children of Eber. 22The sons of Shem were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23The sons of Aram were: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. 25To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan. 26Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30Their dwelling extended from Mesha, as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31These are the sons of Shem, by their families, according to their languages, lands, and nations.
32These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these in the earth after the flood.
1. Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:31; Acts 7:2-4)
Haran died before his father Terah in Ur (Gen 11:28). Sometime after this death, Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, Sarai, Abram's wife, and went from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, to the city called Haran (presumably named after his father) to make that his new home (Gen 11:31).
It appears that in Haran, Yahweh spoke to Abram and informed him that it was He who brought Abram out of Ur, in order to give the land of Canaan as an inheritance (Gen 15:7). Nehemiah confirms this (Neh 9:7), where the text of Scripture says that Yahweh is the God who chose Abram (great father) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave to him the name Abraham (father of many nations).
2. Haran (Gen 12:1-4; Acts 7:4)
Haran is the name of the son of Terah who died in Ur of the Chaldees, and also the name of the city in Canaan. Genesis 11:27 indicates that Terah lived seventy years before he became the father of his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran. It may be that the order of the sons (Gen 11:26), as is common, depicts the order of their birth (see the sons of Noah, Gen 10). If this is so, then the youngest brother of Abram, Haran, preceded his brothers and father in death (Gen 11:28), after he had already become the father of Lot (Gen 11:27), the nephew of Abram.
The biblical account continues that Abram married his half-sister, Sarai (Gen 11:29). This may be due to the scarcity of possible wives where they went, but the text does not speak of this, but the Bible reveals that Abram and Sarai were married before they left Ur (Gen 11:31). Upon coming to Haran, Terah, at two hundred and five years old, died there (see the map of the Ancient Near East and location of Haran. (Map Link to Haran and Mesopotamia, click map to have a larger map).
Upon the death of Terah, Abram, now seventy-five, was approached by Yahweh, who commanded him to leave Haran, and many of his relatives (Gen 12:1) and travel south from Haran to the places that Yahweh would show him (Gen 12:1).
The biblical text indicates that Abram, in obedience to Yahweh's command, left relatives in Haran, but also took a number of his extended family into the land of Canaan, including Sarai, his wife and half-sister, his nephew Lot (son of Haran), and apparently several others (Gen 12:5) on this journey. Several years later, at Isaac's command, his son Jacob returned to Haran, to escape the wrath of Esau, to live with his uncle Laban (Gen 27:43; 28:10).
Several of the foregoing details in Genesis are substantiated in the sermon of Stephen (Acts 7:2-4).
3. Damascus (Gen 15:2)
5. Bethel (Genesis 12:8)
6. Egypt (Gen 12:9-20)
7. Bethel (Gen 13:1-9)
8. Hebron (Gen 13:10-18)
9. Dan (Gen 14:1-14)
11. Salem (Gen 14:17-21)
12. Hebron (Gen 15:1-21; 17:1-27)
13. Gerar (Gen 20:1-18)
14. Beersheba (Gen 21:1-34)
15. Moriah (Gen 22:1-18)
16. Beersheba (Genesis 26:23-33)
17. Hebron (Gen 23: 1-20)