Noah’s Three Sons
Genesis 6:10
And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Eight people were chosen to be saved from death in the Flood that God would bring upon the earth. Noah’s three sons—Shem, Ham and Japheth (and their wives)—would be the three men that God would use to restart human civilization on the earth.
Genesis 10, commonly referred to as the Table of Nations, explains how human civilization was restarted through these three men. Within these three men and their wives was the genetic diversity that would lead to the racial variety we see in humanity today.
To learn more about the book of Genesis, read our article introducing Genesis.