Quando el Rey Nimrod (ˈkwando el rei nimˈrod, modern Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 spelling: Cuando el Rey Nimrod; "When King Nimrod") is a Sephardic folk song. It is sung in Judaeo-Spanish

Judaeo-Spanish

Judaeo-Spanish , in Israel commonly referred to as Ladino, and known locally as Judezmo, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudezmo, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Spaniolit and other names, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish...

, the Jewish-Spanish language, and tells the story of the birth of Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

, the biblical prophet.

Lyrics

Quando el Rey Nimrod (Avraham Avinu)

Quando el Rey Nimrod al campo salía

mirava en el cielo y en la estrellería

vido una luz santa en la Djudería

que havía de nascer Avraham Avinu.

chorus: (x2).

Luego a las comadres encomendava

que toda mujer que prenyada quedasse

si no pariera al punto, la matasse

que havía de nascer Avraham Avinu.

La mujer de Terach quedó prenyada

y de día en día le preguntava

"¿De qué teneix la cara tan demudada?"

Ella ya savía el bien que tenía.

En fin de nueve meses parir quería

iva caminando por campos y vinyas,

a su marido tal ni le descubría

topó una meara, allí lo pariría

En aquella hora el nascido avlava:

"Andavos, la mi madre, de la meara,

yo ya topó quien m'alechará,

Malakh de cielo me accompanyará

porque so criado del Dio bendicho."

En fin de veinte días lo fue a visitar,

lo vido d'enfrente, mancevo saltar,

mirando al cielo y bien atinar,

para conocer el Dio de la verdad.

"Madre, la mi madre, qué buscaix aquí?

Un hijo preciado parí yo aquí.

Vine a buscarlo, si se topa aquí,

si está bivo me consolaré yo."

"Madre, la mi madre, qué avlaix?

Un hijo preciado, cómo lo dexaix?

A fin de veinte días, cómo lo visitaix?

¡Yo so vuestro hijo preciado!"

Mirad la mi madre, que el Dio es uno,

el crio los cielos uno per uno.

Dizedle a Nimrod que perdió su tino

porque no quiere creer en el Verdadero.

Lo alcanzó a saver el rey Nimrod esto,

"¡dixo que lo traigan aína y presto

antes que desreinen a todo el resto

y dexen a mí y crean en el Verdadero!"

Ya me lo truxeron con grande albon

y el travó de la silla un buen travón.

"¿Di, raxa – por qué te tienes tú por Dio?

¿Por qué no quieres creer en el Verdadero?"

"¡Acendiendo un horno, bien acendido,

echadlo presto que es entendido!

Llevadlo con trabucos, que es agudo,

si d'aquí el Dio lo escapa, es el Verdadero."

Echándolo al horno, iva caminando,

con los malakhim iva paseando,

y todos los leños fruto ivan dando;

d'aquí conocemos al Dio verdadero.

Grande zekhut tiene el senyor Avraham,

que por el conocemos el Dio de la verdad.

Grande zekhut tiene el senyor parido,

que afirma la mitsva de Avraham Avinu.

Saludemos agora al señor parido,

que le sea besiman-tov este nacido,

que Eliahu Hanavi mos sea aparecido,

y daremos loores al Verdadero.

Saludemos agora al compadre [sandak] y también al mohel

que por su Zehut nos venga

el Goel y Rahmã a todo Yisrael,

cierto loaremos al Verdadero.

When King Nimrod (translation)

When King Nimrod

Nimrod (king)

Nimrod is, according to the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the son of Cush and great-grandson of Noah and the king of Shinar. He is depicted in the Tanakh as a man of power in the earth, and a mighty hunter. Extra-Biblical traditions associating him with the Tower of Babel led to his...

 was going out to the fields

He was looking at heaven and at the stars

He saw a holy light above the Jewish quarter

Jewish quarter (diaspora)

In the Jewish Diaspora, a Jewish quarter is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by the surrounding Christian authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or...

[A sign] that Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

, our father, must have been born.

chorus: (x2).

Then he was telling all the midwives

That every pregnant woman

Who did not give birth at once was going to be killed

because Abraham our father was going to born.

Terach's wife was pregnant

and each day he would ask her

"Why do you look so distraught?"

She already knew very well what she had.

At the end of nine months she was determined to give birth,

She walked through the fields and vineyards

She didn't tell her husband anything,

She found a manger [cave]; there, she would give birth.

At that time the newborn spoke:

'Get away from the manger [cave], my mother

I have already found someone who will remove me.

An angel from heaven will accompany me

Because I am a child of the Blessed God.'

After twenty days she went to visit him.

She saw in front of her a young man leaping,

Looking at the sky, aiming to understand,

In order to know the God of Truth.

"Mother, my mother, what are you looking for here?

I gave birth to a precious son here.

I came to look for him here.

If he is alive I will be consoled."

"Mother, my mother, what are you saying?

How could you leave your precious son?

After twenty days how is it that you're visiting him?

I am your precious son!

Look, mother, God is one

Shema Yisrael

Shema Yisrael are the first two words of a section of the Torah that is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services...

,

He created the heavens one by one.

Tell Nimrod that he has lost his common sense

Because he does not want to believe in the True One.

King Nimrod did not manage to learn.

"Bring him here immediately

Before they cause a rebellion

And encourage others to believe in the True One!"

They brought him in great humility.

He strongly seized the throne.

"Tell me, evil one - Why do you think you are God?"

Why do you not wish to believe in the True One?"

"Light a fiery furnace,

Throw him in immediately!

Protect yourself from him because he is clever.

If God allows him to escape, then He is real."

He was thrown into the furnace, wherever he walked

He walked with the angels

The trees gave forth fruit

And that's how we know about the true God.

Great merit has honorable Abraham

Because of him we recognize the true God.

Great merit has the father of the newborn

Who fulfills the commandment

Mitzvah

The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...

 of Abraham our father (circumcision

Brit milah

The brit milah is a Jewish religious circumcision ceremony performed on 8-day old male infants by a mohel. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal .-Biblical references:...

).

We wish to greet the father of the newborn

We wish mazel tov (good luck) to the newborn.

Because Elijah the Prophet appeared

And we give praises to the True One.

We greet the godfather

Sandek

Sandak is the term for a person honored at a Jewish brit milah ceremony, traditionally either by holding the baby boy on the knees or thighs while the mohel performs the brit milah or by handing the baby to the mohel...

 and the circumciser

Mohel

A mohel is a Jewish person trained in the practice of brit milah "covenant of circumcision."-Etymology of the Hebrew and Aramaic term:...

,

Because of his merit the Redeemer and Merciful One [God] will come to all Israel,

And we give praises to the True One.

Interpretations

Anachronistically, Abraham

Abraham

Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

 — who in the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 is the very first Jew and the ancestor of all who followed, hence his appellation "Avinu" (Our Father)—is in the Judaeo-Spanish

Judaeo-Spanish

Judaeo-Spanish , in Israel commonly referred to as Ladino, and known locally as Judezmo, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudezmo, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Spaniolit and other names, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish...

 song already born, in the Djudería (modern Spanish: Judería), the Jewish quarter

Jewish quarter (diaspora)

In the Jewish Diaspora, a Jewish quarter is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by the surrounding Christian authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or...

. This makes Terach and his wife into Jews, as are the parents of other babies killed by Nimrod

Nimrod

Nimrod means "Hunter"; was a Biblical Mesopotamian king mentioned in the Table of Nations; an eponym for the city of Nimrud.Nimrod can also refer to any of the following:*Nimród Antal, a director...

. Abraham in the Bible is the very first man to be circumcised and perform circumcision

Circumcision

Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....

.

In essence, unlike its Biblical model, the song is about a Jewish community persecuted by a cruel king and witnessing the birth of a miraculous saviour—a subject of obvious interest and attraction to the Jewish people who composed and sang it in Medieval Spain

History of the Jews in Spain

Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities under Muslim and Christian rule in Spain, before the majority, together with resident Muslims, were forced to convert to Catholicism, be expelled or be killed when Spain became united under the Catholic Monarchs...

 before they were expelled in 1492

Alhambra decree

The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.The edict was formally revoked on 16 December 1968, following the Second...

.

The song attributes to Abraham elements from the story of Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

's birth (the cruel king killing innocent babies, with the midwives ordered to kill them) and from the careers of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who emerged unscathed from the fiery furnace

Fiery furnace

Fiery furnace may refer to:* The fiery furnace in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into in Daniel 3* Fiery Furnace , a region of Utah's Arches National Park* The Fiery Furnaces, a rock band...

. Nimrod is thus made to conflate the roles and attributes of two archetypal cruel and persecuting kings—Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar was the name of several kings of Babylonia.* Nebuchadnezzar I, who ruled the Babylonian Empire in the 12th century BC* Nebuchadnezzar II , the Babylonian ruler mentioned in the biblical Book of Daniel...

 and Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

. For more information, see Nimrod

Nimrod (king)

Nimrod is, according to the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the son of Cush and great-grandson of Noah and the king of Shinar. He is depicted in the Tanakh as a man of power in the earth, and a mighty hunter. Extra-Biblical traditions associating him with the Tower of Babel led to his...

.

It is also suggested that the song borrows from the Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 nativity

Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....

 story. For example, the miraculous light

Star of Bethlehem

In Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi, or "wise men", and later led them to Bethlehem. The star appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where magi "from the east" are inspired by the star to travel to...

 that signaled the birth, the birth in a manger

Manger

A manger is a trough or box of carved stone or wood construction used to hold food for animals . Mangers are mostly used in livestock raising. They are also used to feed wild animals, e.g., in nature reserves...

, and the massacre of the innocents

Massacre of the Innocents

The Massacre of the Innocents is an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew Herod orders the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth...

 ordered by the cruel king Herod

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

.