Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth: It is not clear why the writer inserts this information about Nimrod, who was the founder of Assyria (see Gen 10.8-12). The prophet Micah refers to Assyria as “the land of Nimrod” (Micah 5.6). The Mesopotamian descendants of Nimrod became Israel’s great enemies during the time when the Assyrians and the Babylonians ruled the ancient Near East. Good News Translation indicates the special character of this verse by placing it within parentheses, but this is probably not necessary.
As the footnote in New International Version correctly states, the word father here and in verses 11, 13, 18, and 20 may mean “ancestor” or “founder.” However, few modern versions adopt this understanding of the text.
According to Gen 10, Nimrod was a great hunter. All that the writer of 1 Chronicles says is he was a mighty one in the earth. The Hebrew noun translated mighty one refers to people or animals that are vigorous and strong. In this verse it is usually rendered “warrior” or something similar. In the earth means “on the earth.” In ordinary English it may be expressed as “in the world.” Translations for a mighty one in the earth include “the world’s first great conqueror” (Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), “the first great ruler of the earth” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “the world’s first soldier” (Peregrino, “the first warrior on the earth” La Bible: Nouvelle Traduction, El libro del Pueblo de Dios), “a mighty warrior on [the] earth” (New International Version, New Century Version), and “the first to be a hero on the earth” (Nouvelle Bible Segond). The American Translation (An American Translation) has “an outstanding man in the earth,” but this rendering seems to be too general. For mighty one, American Bible has “tyrant.” As Johnstone (volume 1, pages 30-31) points out, Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar are the first and last Babylonian tyrants to be mentioned in 1–2 Chronicles (1 Chr 1.10; 2 Chr 36.6-13), so perhaps the word “tyrant” or “despot” (Moffatt, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous) better expresses the author’s intended meaning than does a more general word such as “warrior” or “ruler.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .