Genesis 10:9

Summary

The verse states that Nimrod (referred to by the pronoun "he") was a "mighty man of hunting" lifnei Yehovah ("before Yehovah"), and that this became the basis of a saying comparing others to him using the same phrase.

Key words

• gibbor ("a mighty [man] of", H1368) — masculine singular noun in construct state, joined to tzayid to form the phrase "mighty one of hunting"; appears twice, applied both anonymously (v.9a) and by name to Nimrod (v.9b).
• tzayid ("hunting", H6718A) — masculine singular noun, the second element of the construct phrase, specifying the domain in which Nimrod is "mighty."
• lifnei (from paneh, "before", H6440G) — plural noun in construct with the preposition le ("to/for") prefixed, literally "to the face of," forming the idiom "before" or "in the presence of."
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name, object of the preposition lifnei, repeated identically in both halves of the verse.
• ye'amar ("it is said", H0559) — niphal (passive) imperfect verb, indicating an ongoing or repeated act of speech ("it is said" / "it will be said"), introducing the quoted saying about Nimrod.

What the text says

The verse opens with the independent pronoun hu ("he", H1931) followed by hayah ("he was", H1961) in the qal perfect, a construction that in Hebrew narrative often marks emphasis or transition — "he was" (this one, specifically) "a mighty man of hunting." The predicate gibbor tzayid is a construct chain: gibbor ("mighty [man] of") governs tzayid ("hunting"), producing an idiomatic epithet rather than a literal genitive relationship — it does not mean "mighty man belonging to hunting" but characterizes Nimrod's renown in that activity.

The phrase lifnei YHWH ("before Yehovah") appears twice, framing both the initial statement about "he" and the later quoted saying about Nimrod by name. The repetition is exact, tying the anonymous first clause to the named second clause into a unified statement. The niphal verb ye'amar ("it is said") shifts the sentence from narrative report to citation of a fixed expression — the text presents the phrase "like Nimrod, a mighty man of hunting before Yehovah" as something that circulated as a saying, using Nimrod's reputation as its point of reference.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders gibbor as gigas ("giant"), where the Hebrew gibbor (H1368) means "mighty [man]" without implying gigantic stature. The LXX also adds tou theou ("of the God") after Kyrios in the first occurrence, expanding "before Yehovah" to "before the Lord God," a phrase not present in the Hebrew's simple lifnei YHWH. The Vulgate uses robustus venator ("strong/robust hunter") and coram Domino ("before the Lord"), closely matching the Hebrew construct sense of gibbor tzayid without the "giant" nuance found in the LXX.