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Genesis 10:10-12

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Genesis 10:10-12 sits inside this longer paragraph.

The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were: Sheba and Dedan. Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh”. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah. Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

    Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,

    and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

  • KJV King James Version

    And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

    Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

    And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

    Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,

    and Resen between Nineveh and Calah — the same is the great city.

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Cross-references (28)

  • Genesis 11:9 (v10) Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad…
  • Genesis 11:2 (v10) As they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
  • Micah 5:6 (vv10–11) They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he…
  • Genesis 14:1 (v10) In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch, king of Ellasar; Chedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Tidal, king of Goiim,
  • Psalms 83:8 (v11) Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot.
Show all 27 cross-references
  • Jonah 1:2 (v11) “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
  • Micah 4:10 (v10) Be in pain, and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go out of the city, and will dwell in the…
  • Nahum 1:1 (v11) A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
  • Numbers 24:22 (v11) Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.”
  • Numbers 24:24 (v11) But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.”
  • 2 Kings 19:36 (v11) So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.
  • Ezra 4:2 (v11) they came near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as…
  • Isaiah 10:9 (v10) Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?”
  • Isaiah 11:11 (v10) It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from…
  • Isaiah 37:37 (v11) So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.
  • Isaiah 39:1 (v10) At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been…
  • Jeremiah 50:21 (v10) “Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them,” says…
  • Ezekiel 27:23 (v11) “ ‘ “Haran, Canneh, and Eden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were your traders.
  • Ezekiel 32:22 (v11) “Asshur is there with all her company. Her graves are all around her. All of them slain, fallen by the sword;
  • Hosea 14:3 (v11) Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the…
  • Amos 6:2 (v10) Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms?…
  • Jonah 3:1-10 (v11) Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.”…
  • Nahum 2:8 (v11) But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks back.
  • Nahum 3:7 (v11) It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?’ Where will I…
  • Zephaniah 2:13 (v11) He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness.
  • Zechariah 5:11 (v10) He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”
  • Daniel 1:2 (v10) The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of…

27 distinct cross-references across this passage (28 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (17 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.…

10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Moses here designates the seat of Nimrod’s empire. He also declares that four cities were subject to him; it is however uncertain whether he was the founder of them, or had thence expelled their rightful lords. And although mention is elsewhere made of Calneh, yet Babylon was the most celebrated of all. I do not however think that it was of such wide extent, or of such magnificent structure, as the profane historians relate. But since the region was among the first and most fruitful, it is possible that the convenience of the situation would afterwards invite others to enlarge the city. Wherefore Aristotle, in his Politics, taking it out of the rank of cities, compares it to a province. Hence it has arisen, that many declare it to have been the work of Semiramis, by whom others say that it was not built but only adorned and joined together by bridges. The land of Shinar is added as a note of discrimination, because there was also another Babylon in Egypt, which is now called Cairo. But it is asked, how was Nimrod the tyrant of Babylon, when Moses in the following chapter, Genesis 11:1 subjoins, that a tower was begun there, which obtained this name from the confusion of tongues? Some suppose that a hysteron proteron is here employed, and that what Moses is afterwards about to relate concerning the building of the tower was prior in the order of time. Moreover, they add, that because the building of the tower was disastrously obstructed, their design was changed to that of building a city. But I rather think there is a prolepsis ; and that Moses called the city by the same name, which afterwards was imposed by a more recent event. The reason of the conjecture is that probably, at this time, the inhabitants of that place, who had engaged in so vast a work, were numerous. It might also happen, that Nimrod, solicitous about his own fame and power, inflamed their insane desire by this pretext, that some famous monument should be erected in which their everlasting memory might remain. Still, since it is the custom of the Hebrews to prosecute more diffusely, afterwards, what they had touched upon briefly, I do not entirely reject the former opinion.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10–11 For there was another city in Egypt, called also…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Gen 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–12 The beginning of his kingdom, i.e. either his chief…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,.... The…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel - Some…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Verse 10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel]…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Gen 10:10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11–12 That land, of Sennaar, near the city of Babylon.…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–11 the beginning of his kingdom--This kingdom, of course, though…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. The beginning of his kingdom — He was…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. the beginning of his kingdom] Nimrod is represented,…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–11 (10) The beginning of his kingdom.—Nimrod’s empire began with…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And the beginning of his kingdom. Either his first…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv11–12 See note 1, Nah 1:1. (See Scofield "Nah 1:1").
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 he went to Assyria
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v10 10:10-12 Babylonia is the area surrounding the Tigris and…
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