Genesis 6:1-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 6
Origin of the Nephilim.[a] 1 When human beings began to grow numerous on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God[b] saw how beautiful the daughters of human beings were, and so they took for their wives whomever they pleased.(A) 3 Then the Lord said: My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh. Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.
4 The Nephilim appeared on earth in those days, as well as later,[c] after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of human beings, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.(B)
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- 6:1–4 These enigmatic verses are a transition between the expansion of the human race illustrated in the genealogy of chap. 5 and the flood depicted in chaps. 6–9. The text, apparently alluding to an old legend, shares a common ancient view that the heavenly world was populated by a multitude of beings, some of whom were wicked and rebellious. It is incorporated here, not only in order to account for the prehistoric giants, whom the Israelites called the Nephilim, but also to introduce the story of the flood with a moral orientation—the constantly increasing wickedness of humanity. This increasing wickedness leads God to reduce the human life span imposed on the first couple. As the ages in the preceding genealogy show, life spans had been exceptionally long in the early period, but God further reduces them to something near the ordinary life span.
- 6:2 The sons of God: other heavenly beings. See note on 1:26.
- 6:4 As well as later: the belief was common that human beings of gigantic stature once lived on earth. In some cultures, such heroes could make positive contributions, but the Bible generally regards them in a negative light (cf. Nm 13:33; Ez 32:27). The point here is that even these heroes, filled with vitality from their semi-divine origin, come under God’s decree in v. 3.
Deuteronomy 2:10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 (Formerly the Emim lived there, a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakim;(A)
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Deuteronomy 2:21
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21 a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakim. But these, too, the Lord cleared out of the way for the Ammonites, so that they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place.(A)
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2 Samuel 21:16-22
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16 Dadu, a descendant of the Rephaim, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels, was about to take him captive. Dadu was girt with a new sword and thought he would kill David, 17 but Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to help him, and struck and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must not go out to battle with us again, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”(A)
18 (B)After this, there was another battle with the Philistines, in Gob. On that occasion Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, a descendant of the Rephaim.(C) 19 (D)There was another battle with the Philistines, in Gob, and Elhanan, son of Jair from Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam. 20 There was another battle, at Gath, and there was a giant, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Rephaim. 21 And when he insulted Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimei, struck him down.(E) 22 These four were descended from the Rephaim in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his servants.
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1 Chronicles 20:4-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Victories over the Philistines. 4 (A)Afterward there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time, Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued.(B)
5 There was another battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath[a] of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam.(C)
6 There was another battle, at Gath, and there was a giant, who had six fingers to each hand and six toes to each foot; twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Rephaim. 7 He defied Israel, and Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David’s brother, slew him. 8 These were the descendants of the Rephaim of Gath who died at the hands of David and his servants.
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- 20:5 Elhanan…slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath: with this notice the Chronicler solves the difficulty of the apparent contradiction between 1 Sm 17:49, 51 (David killed Goliath) and 2 Sm 21:19 (Elhanan killed Goliath).
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