Phut is one of the four sons of Ham, listed with Cush, Mizraim and Canaan in Genesis 10. Later he is mentioned as a people at war. Ezekiel says of Tyre, “They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war,” and the same prophet names Libya in other lists of nations that carry shield and helmet. Jeremiah pictures Libyans handling the shield on the battlefield. Nave’s gathers these verses together, though the text itself gives only a name and a place among the armies of its day.
5 verses
And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Phut is placed between Egypt and Canaan in Gen. 10:6, and elsewhere we find the people of Phut described as mercenaries in the armies of Egypt and Tyre (Jer. 46:9; Ezek. 30:5; 27:10). In a fragment of the annuals of Nebuchadrezzar which records his invasion of Egypt, reference is made to “Phut of the Ionians.”