exegetical · Gen 10:8–12 · ✓ Approved

Nimrod, the hunter, and the cities

Says Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one in the earth (10:8; the BSB has was the father of). Verse 9 calls him a mighty one of hunting before the Lord, and a saying repeats the phrase: “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (10:10; the BSB has His kingdom began in Babylon; bavel is the word of 11:9). From that land yatsa' 'ashshur, “went out Asshur” or “he went out to Asshur,” and cities were built: Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir (or “the city’s squares”), Calah and Resen, that is the great city (10:11–12; the BSB has he went forth into Assyria and the great city of Calah).

Uncertain Who Nimrod was is open. Some take him as a historical king. Gilgamesh is the “nearest analogy” for Skinner and an “attractive and probable” conjecture for Driver; Rogers holds that Gilgamesh “was wrongly identified with Nimrod.” Marduk and Nazi-Maruttash are also proposed, and Skinner finds them unsatisfying. Sargon, Tukulti-Ninurta I and Ninurta have been proposed on similar grounds; no page here pins those three. Others say he cannot be identified. “Before the Lord” is read as approval (Driver: “as He looked upon him”), as a neutral idiom (“in the Lord’s sight”), or as defiance (Pseudo-Jonathan, Josephus, Augustine, Calvin, Keil). Verse 11 may have Nimrod or Asshur as the subject. No identification is adopted. No lean is taken.

Claims

SaysCush fathered Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one in the earth, a mighty hunter before the Lord, as the saying went; the beginning of his kingdom was Babel in Shinar, and from that land one went out to Asshur and built cities.
UncertainWho Nimrod was, whether 'before the Lord' approves, is a neutral idiom, or is defiance, and whether Nimrod or Asshur is the subject of 10:11 remain open; no identification is adopted; no lean is taken.

Citations

BSB public domain Gen 10:1–32
OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 10:1–32 (WLC/OSHB), cantillation removed
LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Gen 10:1–32, vol. 1, pp. 15–17 (oldtestamentingr01swetuoft, viewer leaves n46–n48); checked against the printed page (scan)
Skinner, Genesis (ICC) public domain Skinner, Genesis (ICC, 1910), pp. 187–189 (n288–n290), on Gen 10:8–12, pp. 207–211 (n308–n312), and on Gen 10:25, p. 220 (n321); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Driver, Genesis (Westminster) public domain Driver, The Book of Genesis (Westminster, 4th ed.), pp. 112–120 (n213–n221), 123–124 (n224–n225), 128–131 (n229–n232); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels public domain Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), p. 81 (n108), with nn. 1–2; checked against the printed page (scan); quoted
Etheridge public domain Etheridge, vol. 1 (1862), Targum of Palestine (Pseudo-Jonathan) on Gen 10:8–11, p. 187 (n199); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted
Josephus (Whiston) public domain Ant. 1.6 (Whiston, 1817, vol. 1), pp. 22–25 (n31–n34); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Civ. 16.3–11 (trans. Dods, NPNF¹ 2), pp. 311–318 (n334–n341); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Calvin, Genesis 1 (King, CTS 1847), editor’s note on Gen 10:1, p. 313 (n322), on Gen 10:1, p. 314 (n323), on Gen 10:2, p. 315 (n324), on Gen 10:5, p. 316 (n325), and on Gen 10:9, p. 317 (n326); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), p. 161 (n164), on Gen 10:8–9, p. 165 (n168), and on the number of the nations, p. 172 (n175); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased
King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt public domain King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition (Schweich Lectures 1916, 1918), p. 30 (n45) and p. 36 (n51); checked against the printed page (scan); quoted, otherwise paraphrased

Sources Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0 BSB public domain OSHB CC BY 4.0 LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Skinner, Genesis (ICC) public domain Driver, Genesis (Westminster) public domain Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels public domain Etheridge public domain Josephus (Whiston) public domain Augustine, City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2) public domain Calvin, Genesis (King) 1 public domain Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt public domain

Quotations from LXX (Swete) are used under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credits

2026-11-11

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