10:8 Cush was the father of 1 Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter 2 before the Lord. 3 (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”) 10:10 The primary regions 4 of his kingdom were Babel, 5 Erech, 6 Akkad, 7 and Calneh 8 in the land of Shinar. 9 10:11 From that land he went 10 to Assyria, 11 where he built Nineveh, 12 Rehoboth-Ir, 13 Calah, 14 10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. 15
10:13 Mizraim 16 was the father of 17 the Ludites, 18 Anamites, 19 Lehabites, 20 Naphtuhites, 21 10:14 Pathrusites, 22 Casluhites 23 (from whom the Philistines came), 24 and Caphtorites. 25
1 tn Heb “fathered.” Embedded within Cush’s genealogy is an account of Nimrod, a mighty warrior. There have been many attempts to identify him, but none are convincing.
2 tn The Hebrew word for “hunt” is צַיִד (tsayid), which is used on occasion for hunting men (1 Sam 24:12; Jer 16:16; Lam 3:15).
3 tn Another option is to take the divine name here, לִפְנֵי יִהוָה (lifne yÿhvah, “before the
3 tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.
4 tn Or “Babylon.”
5 sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.
6 sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.
7 tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).
8 sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.
4 tn The subject of the verb translated “went” is probably still Nimrod. However, it has also been interpreted that “Ashur went,” referring to a derivative power.
5 tn Heb “Asshur.”
6 sn Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city situated on the Tigris River.
7 sn The name Rehoboth-Ir means “and broad streets of a city,” perhaps referring to a suburb of Nineveh.
8 sn Calah (modern Nimrud) was located twenty miles north of Nineveh.
5 tn Heb “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; it [i.e., Calah] is the great city.”
6 sn Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt (cf. NRSV).
7 tn Heb “fathered.”
8 sn The Ludites were African tribes west of the Nile Delta.
9 sn The Anamites lived in North Africa, west of Egypt, near Cyrene.
10 sn The Lehabites are identified with the Libyans.
11 sn The Naphtuhites lived in Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta region).
7 sn The Pathrusites are known in Egyptian as P-to-reshi; they resided in Upper Egypt.
8 sn The Casluhites lived in Crete and eventually settled east of the Egyptian Delta, between Egypt and Canaan.
9 tn Several commentators prefer to reverse the order of the words to put this clause after the next word, since the Philistines came from Crete (where the Caphtorites lived). But the table may suggest migration rather than lineage, and the Philistines, like the Israelites, came through the Nile Delta region of Egypt. For further discussion of the origin and migration of the Philistines, see D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 232.
10 sn The Caphtorites resided in Crete, but in Egyptian literature Caphtor refers to “the region beyond” the Mediterranean.