Nimrod

Nimrod is a son of Cush, named in the table of nations as the first man on earth to grow into a "mighty one." The same notice is repeated in the Chronicler's genealogy, and a later prophet uses his name to label the country of Assyria. The figure crosses three books and is always introduced with the same formula.

Son of Cush

The genealogy of Ham places Nimrod in the second generation after the flood: "And Cush begot Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth" (Gen 10:8). The Chronicler's roll repeats the line almost word for word: "And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth" (1 Chr 1:10). The clause "he began to be a mighty one" marks him out as the first to rise above ordinary stature in the post-flood generations.

A mighty hunter before Yahweh

The character is filled in by a hunting epithet that became a proverb: "He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh: therefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh" (Gen 10:9). The repetition inside the verse is the formula by which the saying circulated.

The land of Nimrod

A prophetic oracle sets Assyria in parallel with "the land of Nimrod," using the patriarch's name as a geographic label for the territory along the Tigris: "And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the dagger: and he will deliver from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads inside our border" (Mic 5:6). The pairing assumes Nimrod's name is still the natural shorthand for that region long after Genesis.