In Genesis, Shem is Noah’s son associated with the ancestry of the Semitic peoples.
Genesis 10 places Shem’s descendants in a major genealogical branch after the Flood. His listed descendants include Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram, and the chapter traces later family lines through them. The term “Semitic” was formed from Shem’s name, although modern historical linguistics uses Semitic for a language family rather than as a simple biblical population label.
Shem is one of Noah’s three sons, alongside Ham and Japheth. Genesis 9 presents all three as founders of post-Flood family lines, while Genesis 10 expands their genealogies. Shem’s line is especially important because Genesis later connects it to Terah and Abraham.
A common mix-up is to treat Shem as Noah’s eldest son with absolute certainty. Genesis lists Shem, Ham, and Japheth in varying contexts, and the text’s ordering does not by itself settle every chronological question. The ancestry association, however, is explicit in the traditional genealogy.