Nephilim
The Nephilim are mysterious beings or humans mentioned in the Bible, traditionally understood as being of great size and strength, or alternatively beings of great power and authority. The origins of the Nephilim are unclear. Some writers, including the author of the Book of Enoch, view them as the offspring of rebellious angels and humans. Others view them as descendants of Seth and Cain.
The first biblical reference to them is in Genesis 6:4, but verses 1-4 are ambiguous and the identity of the Nephilim is disputed. According to Numbers 13:33, ten of the Twelve Spies report the existence of Nephilim in Canaan prior to its conquest by the Israelites. A similar or identical Biblical Hebrew term, read as "Nephilim" by some scholars and as the word "fallen" by others, appears in Ezekiel 32:27 and is also mentioned in the deuterocanonical books Judith 16:6, Sirach 16:7, Baruch 3:26–28, and Wisdom 14:6.
The term Nephilim is often translated as "giants", though its exact meaning remains debated. The Brown–Driver–Briggs lexicon defines it as "giants" but warns that all proposed etymologies are uncertain. Many scholars connect the word to the Hebrew root n-p-l, interpreting Nephilim as either "fallen ones" or "those who cause others to fall". Ancient translations differ: the Septuagint, Vulgate, and several Targumim rendered it as "giants," while others interpreted it as "violent ones" or "those who attack".
Interpretations vary widely across traditions. Second Temple texts like 1 Enoch and Jubilees depict the Nephilim as offspring of fallen angels and human women, portraying them as evil giants whose corruption led to the flood described in the book of Genesis. Early Christian and Jewish sources split between angelic, human, and hybrid explanations: some viewed them as descendants of Seth intermarrying with Cain's line, while others upheld the fallen angel theory, later supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls. Islamic tradition links them to the giant tribe of ʿĀd, while other theories associate them with Sumerian Apkallu myths or elite Canaanite warriors. Over time, the Nephilim have been reimagined in popular culture, appearing in novels, films, video games, and conspiracy theories, where they are often depicted as powerful hybrids, ancient gods, or remnants of a lost superhuman race.
Etymology
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon gives the meaning of Nephilim as "giants", and warns that proposed etymologies of the word are "all very precarious". Many suggested interpretations are based on the assumption that the word is a derivative of Hebrew verbal root n-p-l "fall". argued the word comes from the hif'il causative stem, possibly indicating that the name 'Nephilim' is to be understood as 'those that cause others to fall down'. Ronald Hendel states that it is a passive form: 'Ones who have fallen', grammatically analogous to paqid 'one who is appointed', asir 'one who is bound'. It is also argued that the "fallen" refer to those who "fell in battle", similar to the gibborim.The majority of ancient biblical translations – including the Septuagint, Theodotion, Latin Vulgate, Samaritan Targum, Targum Onkelos, and Targum Neofiti – interpret the word to mean "giants". Symmachus translates it as "the violent ones" and Aquila's translation has been interpreted to mean either "the fallen ones" or "the ones falling ."
Origins of belief
Archaeologist G.E. Wright states that belief in the Nephilim, especially as giants, originated from the Hebrews’ contemplation of Transjordian megalithic structures and cyclopean masonry walls of Canaanite cities, with some being 18 feet thick. Nonetheless, he notes that ancient Canaanites were relatively short, before and after 3000 BC, with no significant findings of abnormally sized aborigines. Biblical professor Brian R. Doak believes that Nephilim lore is a polemic against the tropes of epic and heroism, commonly found in the worldviews of cultures similar to the Hebrews'. J.C. Greenfield similarly believes that Nephilim lore is based on "the negative aspects of the Apkallu tradition" in Sumerian mythology. The Apkallu were seven antediluvian culture heroes who were praised for their exceptional wisdom. In fact, some were called "the son of Ea".Brand et al. argue that the Nephilim refer to elite or royal warriors from legendary antiquity, who do not necessarily have abnormal stature or divine parentage. They view the Nephilim in Numbers 13–14 as autochthonous elite warriors who dwelt in pre-Israelite Canaan. Ellen White believes that their purpose, narratively speaking, is to die so that God's chosen, who are the "underdogs", could prevail.
The Anakites, who are associated with the Nephilim, are mentioned in the Egyptian Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom as one of Egypt's political enemies in Canaan.
In the Hebrew Bible
In the Bible, there are three interconnected passages referencing the nephilim. Two of them appear in the Torah. The first occurrence is in Genesis 6:1–4, immediately before the account of Noah's Ark. Genesis 6:4 reads as follows:"Those days" were a period when the human population on the earth had started to expand, when men began "to be plentiful on the earth".
Where the Jewish Publication Society's translation simply transliterates the Hebrew nephilim as "Nephilim", the King James Version translates the term as "giants".
The nature of the Nephilim is complicated by the ambiguity of Genesis 6:4, which leaves it unclear whether they are the "sons of God" or their offspring who are the "mighty men of old, men of renown". Richard Hess takes it to mean that the Nephilim are the offspring, as does P. W. Coxon.
The second is Numbers 13:32–33, where ten of the Twelve Spies describe the Anakites as descendants of the Nephilim:
Outside the Pentateuch there is one more passage indirectly referencing nephilim and this is Ezekiel 32:17–32. Of special significance is Ezekiel 32:27, which contains a phrase of disputed meaning. With the traditional vowels added to the text in the medieval period, the phrase is read gibborim nophlim, although some scholars read the phrase as gibborim nephilim. According to R.S. Hendel, the phrase should be interpreted as "warriors, the Nephilim" in a reference to Genesis 6:4. The verse as understood by Hendel reads:
B. R. Doak, on the other hand, proposes to read the term as the Hebrew verb "fallen", not a use of the specific term "Nephilim", but still according to Doak a clear reference to the Nephilim tradition as found in Genesis.
Interpretations
Giants
The earliest translations of the Bible, the Septuagint, composed in the 3rd or 2nd century BC, renders the said word as gigantes. In Greek Mythology the gigantes were beings of great strength and aggression but not necessarily of great size. The choice made by the Greek translators has been preserved in Latin translation. The Vulgate, compiled in the 4th or 5th century AD, transcribes the Greek term rather than translating the Hebrew nefilim. From there, the tradition of the giant progeny of the sons of God and the daughters of men spread to later medieval translations of the Bible.The decision of the Greek translators to render the Hebrew nefilim as Greek gigantes is a separate matter. The Hebrew nefilim means literally "the fallen ones" and the strict translation into Greek would be peptokotes, which in fact appears in the Septuagint of Ezekiel 32:22–27. It seems then that the authors of Septuagint wished not only to simply translate the foreign term into Greek, but also to employ a term which would be intelligible and meaningful for their Hellenistic audiences. Given the complex meaning of the nefilim which emerged from the three interconnected biblical passages, the Greek translators recognized some similarities. First and foremost, both nefilim and gigantes possessed an ambiguous identity, being a mixture of the human and divine. They were also viewed with fascination and moral contempt. Secondly, both were presented as impersonating chaotic qualities and posing some serious danger to gods and humans. Lastly, both gigantes and nefilim were clearly connected with the underworld and were said to have originated from earth, and they both end up closed therein.
In 1 Enoch, the Nephilim were "great giants, whose height was three hundred cubits". Assuming 1 cubit is, this would make them tall. However, "three hundred cubits" is considered by scholars to be a translation error in the Ethiopian version. The earlier Greek translation is considered to be closer to the original: "The giants gave birth to Nephilim, and from Nephilim, 'Elioud' came out, and they were growing up according to their grandeur." This matches with Book of Jubilees 7:21-22, which states that there are three races of giants: Naphidim, Naphil, and Eljo. Therefore, instead of being about the giants' height, the verse actually refers to the three races of giants including Elioud. Knowing this, John Baty, in his 1839 translation of the Ethiopian version of 1 Enoch, rendered that verse according to the Greek text.
The Quran refers to the people of Ād in Quran 26:130 whom the prophet Hud declares to be like jabbarin, probably a reference to the Biblical Nephilim. The people of Ād are said to be giants, the tallest among them high. However, according to Islamic legend, the ʿĀd were not wiped out by the Flood, since some of them had been too tall to be drowned. Instead, God destroyed them after they rejected further warnings. After death, they were banished into the lower layers of hell.
Fallen angels
From the third century BC onwards, references are found in the Enochic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben,, Josephus, and the Book of Jude. For example:Some Christian apologists, such as Tertullian and especially Lactantius, shared this opinion.
The earliest statement in a secondary commentary explicitly interpreting this to mean that angelic beings mated with humans can be traced to the rabbinical Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, and it has since become especially commonplace in modern Christian commentaries. This line of interpretation finds additional support in the text of Genesis 6:4, which juxtaposes the sons of God with the daughters of men. From this parallelism it could be inferred that the sons of God are understood as some superhuman beings.
The New American Bible commentary draws a parallel to the Epistle of Jude and the statements set forth in Genesis, suggesting that the Epistle refers implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women. The footnotes of the Jerusalem Bible suggest that the biblical author intended the Nephilim to be an "anecdote of a superhuman race". Superhuman, in this context, refers to the extremity of their wickedness.
Some Christian commentators have argued against this view, citing Jesus's statement that angels do not marry. Others disagree since Jesus also compared angels to men, thus implying the former's ability to have sex. Angels are also never explicitly described as being incapable of marriage. The absence of marriage among angels can be thus compared to willful celibacy.
Evidence cited in favor of the fallen angels interpretation includes the fact that the phrase "the sons of God" is used twice outside of Genesis 6, in the Book of Job where the phrase explicitly references angels. The Septuagint manuscript Codex Alexandrinus reading of Genesis 6:2 renders this phrase as "the angels of God" while Codex Vaticanus reads "sons".
Another modern view that aligns with the fallen angel interpretation includes Nephilim being the offspring of demon-possessed men and women.