Genesis 10:8

Verse

Berean Standard Bible

Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth.

American Standard Version (1901)

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

Bible in Basic English

And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first of the great men of the earth.

Douay-Rheims 1899

Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty on the earth.

Free Bible Version

Cush was also the father of Nimrod, who set himself up as the first tyrant on earth.

Geneva Bible 1599

And Cush begate Nimrod, who began to be mightie in the earth.

King James (Authorized) Version

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

One Unity Resource Bible

Cush became the father of Nimrod [Let us rebel]. He began to be a mighty one in the earth.

Plain English Version

One of the men that was born into Cush’s family was called Nimrod. After he grew up, he became a strong fighter.

Translation for Translators

Another one of Cush’s descendants was Nimrod. Nimrod was the first person on earth who became a mighty warrior.

Unlocked Literal Bible

Cush became the father of Nimrod, who was the first conqueror on the earth.

Noah Webster Bible

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

World English Bible

Cush became the father of Nimrod. He began to be a mighty one in the earth.

Young's Literal Translation

And Cush hath begotten Nimrod;

Context

The Hamites

⁷The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

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Summary

Genesis 10:8 briefly mentions Nimrod, a mighty warrior and hunter before the Lord. Nimrod is known for establishing cities like Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. His name has become synonymous with rebellion and defiance against God due to his role in building the Tower of Babel, symbolizing human pride and self-sufficiency. This verse serves as an introduction to Nimrod's significance in biblical history and the consequences of human ambition apart from God.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Nimrod - Of this person little is known, as he is not mentioned except here and in Ch1 1:10, which is evidently a copy of the text in Genesis. He is called a mighty hunter before the Lord; and from Gen 10:10, we learn that he founded a kingdom which included the cities Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Though the words are not definite, it is very likely he was a very bad man. His name Nimrod comes from מרד, marad, he rebelled; and the Targum, on Ch1 1:10, says: Nimrod began to be a mighty man in sin, a murderer of innocent men, and a rebel before the Lord. The Jerusalem Targum says: "He was mighty in hunting (or in prey) and in sin before God, for he was a hunter of the children of men in their languages; and he said unto them, Depart from the religion of Shem, and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod." The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says: "From the foundation of the world none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in hunting, and in rebellions against the Lord." The Syriac calls him a warlike giant. The word ציד tsayid, which we render hunter, signifies prey; and is applied in the Scriptures to the hunting of men by persecution, oppression, and tyranny. Hence it is likely that Nimrod, having acquired power, used it in tyranny and oppression; and by rapine and violence founded that domination which was the first distinguished by the name of a kingdom on the face of the earth. How many kingdoms have been founded in the same way, in various ages and nations from that time to the present! From the Nimrods of the earth, God deliver the world! Mr. Bryant, in his Mythology, considers Nimrod as the principal instrument of the idolatry that afterwards prevailed in the family of Cush, and treats him as an arch rebel and apostate. Mr. Richardson, who was the determined foe of Mr. Bryant's whole system, asks, Dissertation, p. 405, "Where is the authority for these aspersions? They are nowhere to be discovered in the originals, in the versions, nor in the paraphrases of the sacred writings." If they are not to be found either in versions or paraphrases of the sacred writings, the above quotations are all false.

John Gill Bible Commentary

And Cush begat Nimrod,.... Besides the other five sons before mentioned; and probably this was his youngest son, being mentioned last; or however he is reserved to this place, because more was to be spoken of him than of any of the rest. Sir Walter Raleigh (i) thinks that Nimrod was begotten by Cush after his other children were become fathers, and of a later time than some of his grandchildren and nephews: and indeed the sons of Raamah, the fourth son of Cush, are taken notice of before him: however, the Arabic writers (k) must be wrong, who make him to be the son of Canaan, whereas it is so clear and express from hence that he was the son of Cush. In the Greek version he is called Nebrod, and by Josephus, Nebrodes, which is a name of Bacchus; and indeed Nimrod is the same with the Bacchus of the Heathens, for Bacchus is no other than Barchus, the son of Cush; and Jacchus, which is another of his names in Jah of Cush, or the god the son of Cush; and it is with respect to his original name Nebrod, or Nebrodes, that Bacchus is represented as clothed with the skin of "nebris", or a young hind, as were also his priests; and so in his name Nimrod there may be an allusion to "Nimra", which, in the Chaldee language, signifies a tiger, and which kind of creatures, with others, he might hunt; tigers drew in the chariot of Bacchus, and he was sometimes clothed with the skin of one; though the name of Nimrod is usually derived from "to rebel", because he was a rebel against God, as is generally said; and because, as Jarchi observes, he caused all the world to rebel against God, by the advice he gave to the generation of the division, or confusion of languages, the builders of Babel: he seems to be the same with Belus, the founder of Babel and of the Babylonian empire, whom Diodorus Siculus (l) confounds with Ninus his son: he began to be a mighty man in the earth: that is, he was the first that formed a plan of government, and brought men into subjection to it; and so the Jews (m) make him to be the first king after God; for of the ten kings they speak of in the world, God is the first, and Nimrod the second; and so the Arabic writers (n) say, he was the first of the kings that were in the land of Babylon; and that, seeing the figure of a crown in the heaven, he got a golden one made like it, and put it on his head; hence it was commonly reported, that the crown descended to him from heaven; for this refers not to his gigantic stature, as if he was a giant, as the Septuagint render it; or a strong robust man, as Onkelos; nor to his moral character, as the Targum of Jonathan, which is,"he began to be mighty in sin, and to rebel before the Lord in the earth;''but to his civil character, as a ruler and governor: he was the first that reduced bodies of people and various cities into one form of government, and became the head of them; either by force and usurpation, or it may be with the consent of the people, through his persuasion of them, and on account of the mighty and heroic actions done by him. (i) History of the World, B. 1. ch. 10. sect. 1. p. 109. (k) Elmacinus, p. 29. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 270. See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 276. (l) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 90. (m) Pirke Eliezer, c. 11. (n) Elmacinus, p. 29. Patricides, p. 16. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 271, 272. Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 18.