According to another account, when Nimrod was eighteen years old, war broke out between the Hamites, his Hamite kinsmen, the [[פתרסים|Pathrusites]], and the JaphethitesJaphethite [[דדנים|Dodanim]]. The latter were at first victorious placing Ashur in charge of Cana'an, but Nimrod, at the head of a small army of invaders from Casluh, attacked and defeated them and forced Ashur east of the Euphrates out of Canaan. After this he was made king over all the people on earth, appointing Terah his minister. It was then, elated by so much glory, that Nimrod changed his behavior toward Yhwh and became the most flagrant idolater. When informed of Abraham's birth he requested Terah to sell him the new-born child in order that he might kill it (see Jew. Encyc. i. 86a, s.v. Abraham in Rabbinical Literature). Terah hid Abraham (giving Abraham up for adoption to Azar father of Sarah in Haran) and in his stead brought to Nimrod the child of a slave, which Nimrod dashed to pieces ("Sefer ha-Yashar," l.c.). Terah visited Harran frequently and died there.
When the adult Abraham began to preach against idolatry warning of Nimrod's fall, Nimrod had him thrown into a heated furnace; and it was on this account, according to one opinion, that Nimrod was called "Amraphel" ( = "he said, throw in"; Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xiv. 1; Gen. R. xlii. 5; Cant. R. viii. 8). When Nimrod was informed that Abraham had come forth from the furnace uninjured, however, he remitted his persecution of the worshiper of Yhwh.
