Now it is time for our verse break down:

Genesis 10:1 KJV
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

This verse introduces what is sometimes called the table of nations. In addition to listing some of the descendants of Noah's sons, the chapter also mentions the lands and nations that formed among these descendants.

This is the purpose God intended for mankind in His commands after the flood: to repopulate the earth (Genesis 9:7).

As part of His will, God had promised to never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11). It's an awesome thought to realize that the descendants of these individuals became the peoples of the ancient world, the nations that Israel would eventually interact with as a nation themselves.

The incidents of the prior chapter have a drastic impact on these future generations. Since Ham dishonored Noah (Genesis 9:24), his son Canaan was cursed. The out-workings of that curse will not be clear until many generations later, when Israel arrives in the Promised Land.

The verse is clear that these sons were born to Noah's three sons after the flood and not before. Genesis 10 opens and closes with verses that bracket the genealogies between them and reveal their purpose.

Verses 1 and 32 both refer to the chapter as a record of the sons of Noah . . . after the flood, and verse 32 states that these lines of descent and the geographical distribution of the respective clans ultimately produce “nations” (people groups living in specific territories) that Abram and the patriarchs encounter later.

The chapter rehearses the genealogies of Noah’s three sons, beginning with Japheth, who seems least influential of the three in history. Next comes Ham and then Shem, the latter being our next focus.