Ham

Ham was the youngest of Noah's three sons and, with his brothers Shem and Japheth, survived the Flood aboard the ark. When he saw and dishonored his father's nakedness after Noah became drunk, Noah pronounced a curse on Ham's son Canaan. Ham became the ancestor of the peoples of Egypt (Mizraim), Cush, Put, and Canaan, and through his line came both Nimrod and the nations that would later oppose Israel.

0:00

Biography

Father: Noah
Children: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan
Era: Post-Flood (Primeval History)

Family

Parents

Noah

↓

Ham

↓

Children

Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan

Old Testament Genesis Patriarch

Did You Know?

Ham's name is linked by many scholars to a word for 'hot' or 'dark,' fitting the southern lands - Egypt, Cush, and Put - that Genesis 10 traces to his descendants.

The curse Noah pronounced after Ham's disrespect fell not on Ham himself but on his son Canaan (Genesis 9:25), which is why the narrative directs its weight toward the Canaanite nations Israel would later encounter.

In the Hebrew Bible 'the land of Ham' becomes a poetic name for Egypt (Psalm 105:23), preserving the memory that Egypt was reckoned among Ham's most powerful descendants.

Key Chapters

Genesis 9 God's Covenant with Noah 4 min read Ham's disrespect toward his father, contrasted with the reverence of Shem and Ja... Genesis 10 The Table of Nations 3 min read The sons of Ham populate Africa and Canaan, including the peoples Israel would l...

Key Passages

Ham Dishonors Noah

Genesis 9:20-27

Ham's disrespect toward his father, contrasted with the reverence of Shem and Japheth, brings a curse on Canaan and shapes the destiny of nations.

A²⁰nd Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

²¹ And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. ²³ And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. ²⁴ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. ²⁵ And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. ²⁶ And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. ²⁷ God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Read full chapter: Genesis 9 →

The Table of Nations

Genesis 10:6-20

The sons of Ham populate Africa and Canaan, including the peoples Israel would later encounter.

A⁶nd the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

⁷ And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. ⁸ And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. ¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, ¹² And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. ¹³ And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim. ¹⁵ And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, ¹⁶ And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, ¹⁷ And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, ¹⁸ And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. ¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. ²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

Read full chapter: Genesis 10 →

Ham