PUT

A “son” of Ham. (Ge 10:6; 1Ch 1:8) Although Put is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, none of his individual offspring are named. Often his descendants lent military support to Egypt. (Jer 46:9; Eze 30:4-6; Na 3:9) They served as mercenaries in the armies of Tyre and contributed to that city’s greatness. (Eze 27:3, 10) It was also foretold that Put would be among the forces of Gog of Magog.​—Eze 38:5.

Available evidence points to a connection between Put and the Libyans of N Africa. In three of its occurrences, “Put” is rendered “Libyans” by the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. (Jer 46:9; Eze 27:10; 38:5) The Hebrew “Put” also corresponds closely to the put[i]ja (usually considered to be Libya) of Old Persian inscriptions. However, Nahum 3:9 seems to indicate that Put and the Lu·vimʹ (Libyans) are separate peoples. But this in itself would not rule out identifying Put with the Libyans. The term “Libyans” was perhaps more comprehensive than the Hebrew designation Lu·vimʹ, as may be deduced from the reference made by Herodotus (II, 32) to “Libyans, many tribes of them.”

The identification of Put with the “Punt” of Egyptian inscriptions is not generally accepted today for phonetic reasons.