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Hebrew Bible · Genesis 10:8–10

Nimrod, the mighty one

EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
ReferenceGenesis 10:8–10
Writtenc. 900–500 BCE
SetAfter the Flood
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD… And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.

Translation: KJV

Read it literally

'He began to be' a gibbor: he became one, he was not born one. A human who turned himself into a hybrid, then founded Babel.

What scholars say

'Mighty one' is gibbor, the same word used for the Nephilim's children in Genesis 6:4. Often linked to a Mesopotamian king or the god Ninurta.

Giants and hybrids
People and places hereCush

Quick answers about Genesis 10:8–10

Where is Genesis 10:8–10 found?

Genesis 10:8–10 (Hebrew Bible). Translation quoted: King James Version (1611; standard 1769 text), with Apocrypha.

When was Genesis 10:8–10 written?

c. 900–500 BCE.

What do scholars say about Genesis 10:8–10?

'Mighty one' is gibbor, the same word used for the Nephilim's children in Genesis 6:4. Often linked to a Mesopotamian king or the god Ninurta.

Rabbit holes in this passage

BeingNephilimGenesis says giants walked the earth "also after that," meaning after the Flood that was meant to wipe everything out. The Nephilim get just two verses in the whole Hebrew Bible, and neither explains them. Who were they, and how did they outlast the Flood? Scholars and the text itself disagree.PersonNimrodGenesis uses the same word for Nimrod, "mighty one," that it uses for the offspring of the sons of God, and the Greek Bible calls him a giant. He is the Bible's first empire-builder, and legend made him the force behind the Tower of Babel. Most scholars see a memory of Mesopotamian kings. Who was he really?GodNinurtaAfter defeating an army of living stones, the warrior god Ninurta holds a trial of rocks, pronouncing a different fate on each kind of stone for how it behaved in the war. His weapon can talk, too; scholars read the myth as floods, mountains and irrigation dressed up as battle. What does a verdict on stones sound like?

Sources

  1. King James Version (1611; standard 1769 text), with ApocryphaPrimary text
  2. Genesis 6:1–4, King James VersionPrimary text
  3. Genesis 10:8–12, King James VersionPrimary text
  4. The Exploits of Ninurta (Lugal-e), ETCSL t.1.6.2, University of OxfordPrimary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated