Elam

Elam was both a personal name — Elam son of Shem in the table of nations (Genesis 10:22) — and the ancient kingdom that bore his name, located in the mountainous region east and northeast of Babylon, corresponding roughly to the modern Iranian province of Khuzestan and parts of the Zagros mountains. One of the oldest civilizations of the ancient Near East, Elam was at various periods a rival to Babylon and Assyria. The Elamite king Chedorlaomer appears in Genesis 14 as the leader of the eastern coalition that Genesis 14 describes Abraham's forces defeating.

The prophets address Elam in oracles of both judgment and restoration: Jeremiah 49:34–39 delivers a divine word against Elam at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign; Isaiah 11:11 includes Elam among the scattered nations from which the LORD will gather the remnant of Israel; and in a remarkable passage, Isaiah 21:2 calls Elam to attack Babylon. By the New Testament period, Elamites were present in Jerusalem at Pentecost and heard the apostles speaking in their language (Acts 2:9), fulfilling the breadth of the Spirit's outpouring among all nations.