The Table of Nations
Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites, Genesis 10:13 · Berean Standard Bible
This verse begins listing the descendants of Mizraim (Egypt), showing the various peoples and tribes that came from Ham through this line.
Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt, one of humanity's most ancient and powerful civilizations. For Israel, Egypt was both a place of slavery and eventual salvation. Understanding that Egyptians descended from Ham through Mizraim placed them in the genealogical map of the world.
The genealogical narrator, now detailing the Egyptian branch of Ham's descendants.
Egypt will play a massive role in Israel's story—both as oppressor and as a place where God demonstrates His power. This genealogy reminds you that even Egypt, despite its power and pride, has its place in God's design.
Mizraim, Ham's son, fathered the various peoples of Egypt and North Africa, including the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, and Naphtuhites.
Mizraim (מצרים) is the biblical and Hebrew term for Egypt, and the text treats it genealogically as a people rather than merely a geography. The sons of Mizraim represent the various ethnic or tribal groups of Egypt known to Israel. Some of these names correspond to historical Egyptian populations: the Ludites may relate to Libyan peoples; the others represent Egyptian regional or occupational groups. This reflects the sophisticated ethnographic knowledge embedded in the genealogy—Israel understood Egypt not as monolithic but as comprised of distinct peoples with distinct identities. The enumeration here parallels similar genealogical matrices in Egyptian sources, suggesting cross-cultural genealogical traditions.
The redactor, drawing on Israel's intimate knowledge of Egyptian peoples and structures gained through centuries of contact and, at various periods, residence.
Egypt, represented through Mizraim's genealogy, occupies a position of complexity in Israel's tradition: it is simultaneously a place of refuge (Abraham, Joseph, Israel in flight) and oppression (the slavery narratives). By including Egypt within the genealogical structure inherited from Ham and Nimrod, the text establishes that Egyptian civilization, for all its power and antiquity, originates within the same post-diluvian human family as Israel itself.
11From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
12and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.
13Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites,
14the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites.
15And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
Read all of Genesis 10 — Seventy nations branching from three sons. The human family spreads across the earth — and the story is about to narrow.
This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.
Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad