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Person Old and New Testament

Arpachshad

Also known as Arpachshad =ESV; Arphaxad =NIV, KJV, Arphaxad

Arpachshad, son of Shem, was born two years after the flood and was an ancestor of Abraham (Gen.10.22,24; 11:10-13; 1Ch.1.17-18,24; Luke 3:36). Mentioned in 10 verses across 3 books, first at Genesis 10:22.

Why it matters. Son of Shem, ancestor of Abraham

Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Arpachshad

Arpachshad, also spelled Arphaxad, was a son of Shem and grandson of Noah. He was born two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old. At age 35, Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. He lived 403 years after Shelah's birth and had other sons and daughters. Arpachshad was an ancestor of Abraham and is listed in both the genealogies in Genesis and in Jesus' genealogy in Luke 3. His name is of uncertain meaning but may be related to the region of Arrapḫa in Assyria.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

No reviewed connections yet.

Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Parents
Shem
Children
Cainan

Appears in Scripture

Named in 10 verses across 3 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.