Bereshit (parsha) lived 500 years, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God set the days allowed to man at 120 years. Divine beings admired and took wives from among the daughters of men, who bore the Nephilim, heroes of old, men of renown. The ninth open portion (, "petuchah") ends here. As the reading continues with the maftir () reading that concludes the parashah, God saw how great man's wickedness was and how man's every plan was evil, and God regretted making man and became saddened. God expressed an intention to blot men and animals from the earth, but Noah
Shem 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity to have yielded different English translations. The verse is translated in the King James Version as: "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born." However, the New American Standard Bible gives: "Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born". According to Genesis 10:22-31 ("Jewish Publication Society Translation" of 1917): Genesis 11:10 records that Shem was 100 years old