When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.
Parallel translations
- WEB The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
- KJV And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
- BSB The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.
- NKJV The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
- NASB The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The firstborn bears Moab, ancestor of the Moabites. This explains the origin of a nation that would often trouble Israel.
Overview
Moab's name (sounding like 'from father') memorializes his shameful conception. The Moabites became frequent adversaries of Israel, yet from Moab came Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David, woven into the line of the Messiah. Thus God's grace would redeem even what began in sin, drawing a Gentile into the lineage of the Savior.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Deut 2:9Yahweh said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”
- Num 22:1–41The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.
- Num 21:29Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.
- Judg 3:1–31Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
- 2 Sam 8:1–18After this, David struck the Philistines and subdued them; and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines.
- Deut 23:3An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into Yahweh’s assembly forever;
- Ruth 4:10Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
- 2 Kgs 3:1–27Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
- Deut 2:19When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.”
- Num 24:1–25When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 19:37 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.