Shem as a subset of the Afro-Asiatic languages, denoting the common linguistic heritage of Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, Hebrew and Canaanite-Phoenician languages. The following family tree contains information from the Hebrew Bible, without data from any other sources. According to Luke 3, an additional figure named Cainan is the son of Arpachshad and the father of Shelah. Shem Shem (; "Shem";) was one of the sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible as well as in Islamic literature. The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs,
Ham (son of Noah) were scattered following the failure of the Tower of Babel, Ham and his children journeyed to their allotment, with the exception of Canaan, who settled in Shem's territory, thus receiving another curse. According to "Jubilees" 10:29–34, this second curse is attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and instead "squatting" within the inheritance of Shem, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the region later promised to Abraham: And Canaan saw the land of Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good, and he went not into the