Genesis 11:10-26

This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood. Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah. Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber: and Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg. Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu. Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug. Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor. Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah. Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Here we have the genealogy from Noah’s son Shem to Abram. Abram was later to be renamed Abraham as we read later in Genesis. The reason why Abraham’s children are called Semites is because they descended from Shem as we read here.

Notice how little time passed from Noah to Abram. This is why the biblical worldview doesn’t support long ages on the earth. There simply isn’t enough family history recorded in the Bible to get even hundreds of thousands of years in. The simple biblical fact is that the earth is young and there is no other way to look at it if you use the Bible as your standard.

Notice how the ages of each generation began to go down. Shem lived more than half of a millennia before he died, but since then, age greatly declined. This is one of the first prophesies in the Bible. Mankind sinned and God promised that death would result. We see here that death and corruption is bringing the human race closer and closer to extinction.