Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD
Torah“Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD” is a phrase in the genealogy of Noah’s descendants that marks Nimrod as an exceptional hunter and a mighty figure. The expression links his renown to the account of his power and the beginning of his kingdom in Shinar.
Wording and Context
The phrase appears in the account of the descendants of Ham: Cush fathered Nimrod, who “began to be a mighty one in the earth.” The text then identifies him as “a mighty hunter before the LORD” and explains that this gave rise to the comparison, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.”
The wording moves from a description of Nimrod to a proverbial comparison. It presents his hunting as the defining mark of his renown, while “before the LORD” places that reputation in a religiously framed account rather than treating it as an ordinary biographical detail.
Nimrod’s Power and Kingdom
The phrase stands at the threshold of a description of Nimrod’s political reach. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. His reputation as a mighty hunter thus accompanies the emergence of a kingdom associated with several named cities.
The account proceeds from Nimrod to the wider genealogical geography of Noah’s descendants: it describes peoples, lands, tongues, and nations. Within that sequence, the saying singles out one individual for exceptional might before the narrative turns to the places and populations associated with his kingdom.
