Reading as Seek: to learn Scripture and its teachings. Same facts, warmer framing.

Person

Shem

Also called Sem

Mentioned in 17 verses across 3 books, first in Genesis 5:32. The verses below are the ones linked to this person (the Theographic dataset, with our sourced corrections).

In these stories

Noah and the Flood

At a glance

Gender

Male

Ussher–Jones reckoning

born c. 2446 BC · died c. 1846 BC

F. N. Jones’s Ussher-style chronology, used by Theographic: one of several traditional counts, added up from the ages and reigns in the Hebrew text. The Jewish count (Seder Olam) and the Septuagint’s figures differ from it, for early Genesis by centuries. Not a scholarly date.

Most early-Genesis dates are not historically established: they are reckoned from the ages in the genealogies, and nothing outside the text confirms them.

Group

Genealogy of Jesus

Family

Father

Noah

Siblings

Children

As the dataset records them from the biblical genealogies.

Often appears with

Named in the same verses most often. Sharing a verse doesn’t always mean they met.

Japheth9 verses
Noah7 verses
Ham6 verses
Arphaxad6 verses
Canaan3 verses
Elam (son of Shem)2 verses
God2 verses
Aram (son of Shem)2 verses
Asshur2 verses
Lud2 verses
Uz (son of Aram)1 verse
Cainan (son of Arphaxad)1 verse
Mash1 verse
Lamech (father of Noah)1 verse

Places

Where the data places them (born, died, or an event they take part in) first; then places named in the same verses, which does not mean they were there.

Araratscene of “The Great Flood”; scene of “The flood subsides” +1 more

In the Bible

The first 10 of 17 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.

Genesis

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:10
And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 7:13
On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—
Genesis 9:18
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.
Genesis 9:23
Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Genesis 9:26
He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
Genesis 9:27
May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”
Genesis 10:1
This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
Genesis 10:21
And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.
Genesis 10:22
The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

Show all 17 verses

Events

Events the dataset lists Shem as taking part in. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.

c. 2446 BC
Birth of ShemGenesis 5:32
c. 2446 BC
Lifetime of ShemGenesis 11:10–11
c. 2348 BC
The Great Flood beginsGenesis 7:6–17
c. 2348 BC
The Great FloodGenesis 7:6–8:19 · at Ararat
c. 2348 BC
Water covers the earthGenesis 7:18–24
c. 2347 BC
The flood subsidesGenesis 8:1–14 · at Ararat
c. 2347 BC
Leaving the ArkGenesis 8:15–19 · at Ararat
c. 2346 BC
Noah gets drunk and Canaan is cursedGenesis 9:20–27
c. 2346 BC
Birth of ArphaxadGenesis 11:10
c. 1846 BC
Death of ShemGenesis 11:11

Dictionary

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. The entry is for the name and can describe more than one person who bore it. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.

Read Easton’s entry

A name; renown, the first mentioned of the sons of Noah (Gen. 5:32; 6:10). He was probably the eldest of Noah’s sons. The words “brother of Japheth the elder” in Gen. 10:21 are more correctly rendered “the elder brother of Japheth,” as in the Revised Version. Shem’s name is generally mentioned first in the list of Noah’s sons. He and his wife were saved in the ark (7:13). Noah foretold his preeminence over Canaan (9:23-27). He died at the age of six hundred years, having been for many years contemporary with Abraham, according to the usual chronology. The Israelitish nation sprang from him (Gen. 11:10-26; 1 Chr. 1:24-27).