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Genesis 10:8-10

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.

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Genesis 10:8-10 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

    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.

  • KJV King James Version

    And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

    He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

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

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

    He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; wherefore it is said: 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.'

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

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Cross-references (23)

  • 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 (vv8, 10) 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…
  • 2 Chronicles 28:22 (v9) In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz.
  • Genesis 6:4 (v9) The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them.…
Show all 22 cross-references
  • Genesis 6:11 (v9) The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
  • Genesis 13:13 (v9) Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
  • 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,
  • Genesis 25:27 (v9) The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
  • Genesis 27:30 (v9) As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in…
  • 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…
  • Psalms 52:7 (v9) “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his…
  • 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 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 16:16 (v9) “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will…
  • 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 13:18 (v9) and say, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Woe to the women who sew pillows on all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every…
  • 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?…
  • Micah 7:2 (v9) The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his…
  • 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…

22 distinct cross-references across this passage (23 total citations).

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

Explain this passage (16 sources)

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

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 8. And Cush begat Nimrod. It is certain that…

8. And Cush begat Nimrod. It is certain that Cush was the prince of the Ethiopians. Moses relates the singular history of his son Nimrod, because he began to be eminent in an unusual degree. Moreover, I thus interpret the passage, that the condition of men was at that time moderate; so that if some excelled others, they yet did not on that account domineer, nor assume to themselves royal power; but being content with a degree of dignity, governed others by civil laws and had more of authority than power. For Justin, from Trogus Pompeius, declares this to have been the most ancient condition of the world. Now Moses says, that Nimrod, as if forgetting that he was a man, took possession of a higher post of honor. Noah was at that time yet living, and was certainly great and venerable in the eyes of all. There were also other excellent men; but such was their moderation, that they cultivated equality with their inferiors, who yielded them a spontaneous rather than a forced reverence. The ambition of Nimrod disturbed and broke through the boundaries of this reverence. Moreover, since it sufficiently appears that, in this sentence of Moses, the tyrant is branded with an eternal mark of infamy, we may hence conclude, how highly pleasing to God is a mild administration of affairs among men. And truly, whosoever remembers that he is a man, will gladly cultivate the society of others. With respect to the meaning of the terms, ציד (tsaid,) properly signifies hunting, as the Hebrew grammarians state; yet it is often taken for food But whether Moses says that he was robust in hunting, or in violently seizing upon prey; he metaphorically intimates that he was a furious man, and approximated to beasts rather than to men. The expression, “Before the Lord,” seems to me to declare that Nimrod attempted to raise himself above the order of men; just as proud men become transported by a vain self-confidence, that they may look down as from the clouds upon others.

Wherefore it is said Since the verb is in the future tense, it may be thus explained, Nimrod was so mighty and imperious that it would be proper to say of any powerful tyrant, that he is another Nimrod. Yet the version of Jerome is satisfactory, that thence it became a proverb concerning the powerful and the violent, that they were like Nimrod. Nor do I doubt that God intended the first author of tyranny to be transmitted to odium by every tongue.

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 vv8–10 Meaning, a cruel oppressor and tyrant.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Gen 10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Whom he placeth last of all his sons, because…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 And Cush begat Nimrod,.... Besides the other five sons…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Began to be mighty on the earth - That…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 Verse 8. Nimrod] Of this person little is known,…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Gen 10:9. Nimrod was a mighty hunter — In…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v9 A stout hunter. Not of beasts, but of men;…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 Nimrod--mentioned as eclipsing all his family in renown. He…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8. Nimrod — If this is a Hebrew or…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8–19 (J). Nimrod, Assyria and Babylon: Canaan and Egypt
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 (8) Cush begat Nimrod.—This does not mean that Nimrod…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–10 And Cush begat not necessarily as immediate progenitor, any…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 Possible meanings are 1) "mighty warrior" or 2) "mighty…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8–10 10:8-12 Special attention is given to the early history…
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