Nimrod—strong
Ham’s grandson     Gen. 10:6–8
Becomes a mighty hunter     Gen. 10:8, 9
Establishes cities     Gen. 10:10–12
Land of Assyria, thus described     Mic. 5:6
Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's Quick Reference Topical Bible Index. Nashville, Tenn. : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995 (Nelson's Quick Reference), S. 450

 

Nimrod — firm, a descendant of Cush, the son of Ham. He was the first who claimed to be a “mighty one in the earth.” Babel was the beginning of his kingdom, which he gradually enlarged (Gen. 10:8–10). The “land of Nimrod” (Micah 5:6) is a designation of Assyria or of Shinar, which is a part of it.
Easton, M.G.: Easton's Bible Dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996, c1897
 

Nimrod (nim’-rod) = Rebel; a rebel; to be rebellious; (root = to be rebellious; to be contumacious). Valiant; strong; he that rules. We will rebel.

Smith, Stelman ; Cornwall, Judson: The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names. North Brunswick, NJ : Bridge-Logos, 1998, S. 185

 

Nimrod, an ancient Mesopotamian king and conqueror mentioned in Gen. 10:8-12 (cf. 1 Chron. 1:10) and Mic. 5:6 (cf. Heb. 5:5). In the latter passage, the ‘land of Nimrod’ is a poetic term for Assyria. Nimrod is the son of Cush, which in Gen. 10:8 seems to mean Cossea, the country of the Kassites in Mesopotamia. Nimrud is the name of several places in Mesopotamia, including Nimrud, ancient Calah. The biblical Nimrod is the first powerful king on earth; the first cities of his kingdom were the famous Babylon, Erech, and Accad in Babylonia, and Nineveh and Calah in Assyria (v. 10). Like another fabled figure of the ancient Near East, Gilgamesh, he was a mighty hunter ‘by the favor of the Lord’ (Heb., ‘before the Lord’). Nimrod appears in the Yahwist source in Genesis, a source interested in ‘culture heroes’ and founders of cultural and political institutions (see Gen. 4:17-26). Nimrod would then be the hero-founder of the great Eastern empires that threatened Israel during much of its existence.
Whether Nimrod reflects a single historical person, and if so, who that person was, is debated by scholars. Some suggest that Nimrod is derived from the god Ninurta, but the Bible portrays him as flesh and blood. More plausible is the suggested derivation from Tukulti-Ninurta I of the thirteenth century b.c., the first Mesopotamian to rule effectively both Babylonia and Assyria. Certainty is impossible. The Bible may have intended only a corporate figure of a great king.     R.J.C.
v. verse
Heb. Hebrew
R.J.C. Richard J. Clifford, Ph.D.; Dean and Professor of Old Testament; Weston School of Theology; Cambridge, Massachusetts
Achtemeier, Paul J. ; Harper & Row, Publishers ; Society of Biblical Literature: Harper's Bible Dictionary. 1st ed. San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1985, S. 706

 

NIMROD [NIM rahd] — a son of Cush and grandson of Ham, the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 10:8–12; 1 Chr. 1:10). Nimrod was a “mighty one on the earth”—a skilled hunter-warrior who became a powerful king. He is the first mighty hero mentioned in the Bible.
The principal cities of Nimrod’s Mesopota-mian kingdom were “Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Gen. 10:10). From the land of Babylon he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh and other cities (Gen. 10:11). In Micah 5:6 Assyria is called “the land of Nimrod.”
The origin and meaning of the name Nimrod is uncertain, but it is doubtful that it is Hebrew. It may be Mesopotamian, originating from the Akkadian (northern Babylonian) god of war and hunting, Ninurta, who was called “the Arrow, the mighty hero.”
Some scholars believe Nimrod was Sargon the Great, a powerful ruler over Accad who lived about 2400 b.c. Others think he was the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (about 1246–1206 b.c.), who conquered Babylonia. However, if Nimrod was indeed a Cushite, he may have been the Egyptian monarch Amenophis III (1411–1375 b.c.).
Nimrod was more likely Assyrian. His fierce aggressiveness, seen in the combination of warlike prowess and the passion for the chase, makes him a perfect example of the warrior-kings of Assyria.
Youngblood, Ronald F. ; Bruce, F. F. ; Harrison, R. K. ; Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1995