נְפִילִים

Nephilim is a plural noun usually derived from the Hebrew root naphal, "to fall," though the precise meaning is debated. Ancient Greek translators (Septuagint) rendered it gigantes, "giants," giving us the traditional English translation. The word appears only three times in the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33 (twice).

Genesis 6:4 places the Nephilim on the earth "in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men." The text links them to "mighty men of old, men of renown," set against the backdrop of escalating wickedness that triggers the flood. Three main interpretations have circulated since antiquity: (1) the "sons of God" were fallen angels whose union with women produced this hybrid race (the view of 1 Enoch, Jude 6-7, 2 Peter 2:4, and most early Christian writers); (2) they were the godly Sethite line intermarrying with the ungodly Cainite line; (3) they were powerful human tyrants or ancient kings claiming divine status.

Numbers 13:33 reports the spies' terrified description of the Anakim of Canaan as "giants… of the Nephilim," so that the Israelites "were in our own sight as grasshoppers." Whether the spies were exaggerating or identifying a parallel phenomenon, the connection is enough to fold the giant clans (Anakim, Rephaim, Emim) into the same mental category. Scripture's interest is less in their biology than in their function: they embody the proud, violent power that opposes God's purposes—and that God, again and again, brings low.