Curse of Ham the ark and "was smitten in his skin"; according to another, Noah cursed him because he castrated his father. Although the Talmud refers only to Ham, the version brought in a midrash goes on further to say "Ham, that Cush came from him" in reference to the blackness, that the curse did not apply to all of Ham but only to his eldest son Cush, Cush being a sub-Saharan African. Thus, two distinct traditions existed, one explaining dark skin as the result of a curse on Ham, the other explaining slavery by the separate curse on Canaan. The concepts were
The Books of the Bible single column. These changes, along with the removal of chapter and verse numbers and the recombination of divided works, are designed to "encourage meaningful units to be read in their entirety and so with greater appreciation and understanding." The format for "The Books of the Bible" was developed from 2003–2007 under the direction of Glenn Paauw, Director of Product Development at the International Bible Society (now Biblica). Editors who worked on the volume included Lisa Anderson, Paul Berry, John Dunham, Jim Rottenborn and Micah Wieringa. The graphic designer was Kate Hoyman. Consultants to the project included John R. Kohlenberger III,