According to Genesis, Shem was Noah’s son associated with the ancestry of the Semitic peoples. The biblical genealogies trace several later peoples and figures through Shem’s line.
Shem is named alongside his brothers Ham and Japheth in the Flood narrative. After the Flood, Genesis presents a genealogy from Shem to Abram, who is later called Abraham. The name “Semitic,” used in modern historical and linguistic classification, was formed from Shem’s name, although modern scholars use the term primarily for related languages and cultures rather than as a simple biological category.
The biblical table of nations is a theological genealogy, and its ancient ethnic labels do not map perfectly onto modern ideas of ethnicity or population history. Shem is nevertheless the specific son named in the Genesis genealogy behind the traditional association. He should not be confused with Ham, linked in the text to other peoples, or Japheth, linked to still others.