Nephilim

The Nephilim are mysterious beings mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, especially in Genesis and Numbers. They are traditionally understood as giants or mighty figures associated with the world before the Flood.

Genesis 6:1–4: A short passage describing the Nephilim, the “sons of God,” and the “daughters of humans” before the Flood. This is the principal biblical passage connecting the Nephilim with the pre-Flood world.
Book of Enoch: An ancient Jewish apocalyptic work, parts of which survive in the Ethiopian Orthodox biblical canon. Its Watchers narrative develops the Genesis account into a story about heavenly beings and giants.
Sons of God: A biblical expression for beings or people associated with God, whose identity varies by passage and interpretation. Their unions with human women in Genesis 6 are central to explanations of the Nephilim.
Bible translations: Renderings of biblical texts into other languages, shaped by source manuscripts and translation choices. Different renderings, such as “giants,” influence how the Nephilim are understood.
Numbers 13:33: A verse in which Israelite spies report seeing Nephilim in Canaan and describe themselves as grasshoppers beside them. Its report links the name to imposing inhabitants of Canaan after the Flood.
Watchers: Heavenly beings in Jewish apocalyptic literature, especially the Book of Enoch, who descend to earth and transgress divine boundaries. Enochic tradition identifies the fathers of the giants with these rebellious heavenly beings.
Sethite interpretation: A Christian interpretation that identifies Genesis’s “sons of God” with the godly descendants of Seth. It explains the passage through human lineages rather than unions between angels and women.
Biblical literalism: An approach that emphasizes the Bible’s authority and interprets its statements as straightforwardly factual where possible. Literalist readings often treat the Nephilim as historical beings rather than literary figures.
Hebrew Bible: The collection of ancient Israelite scriptures that forms the Jewish Bible and much of the Christian Old Testament. The Nephilim appear in two passages within this scriptural collection.
Book of Jubilees: An ancient Jewish retelling of Genesis and Exodus that presents history as a sequence of jubilees. It retells the descent of the Watchers and the origin of their giant offspring.

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GiantRelated: Later traditions often interpret them as giants, linking giant lore to biblical narrative.