Who Were the Nephilim? Scripture vs. “Giants” Myth

Titled: The Nephilim
Depicting B.C. times view of a tyrant with a dozen slaves chained together. And he's pulling them in public.

Summary

The Nephilim were the “bad” descendants of Adam & Eve before Noah’s flood, who lived to be hundreds of years old and became cunningly powerful. This study provides biblical references and Hebrew context supporting the view that the Nephilim were not physical giants or children of fallen angels, but as long-lived tyrants bent on evil, who gained power and influence over time. The Nephilim are mentioned only a few times in the Bible, while many later sensational interpretations came from the so-called “Book of Enoch,” which was not written by Enoch and was not recognized as Scripture in the Jewish Torah or most Bibles.

The term “Nephilim,” translated from the original Hebrew manuscripts, can carry meanings associated with tyrants, powerful men, aggressors, renown figures, or violent people. Although some translations render it as “giants,” it is completely out of context to mean “physical size giants”. Yet sensational books and movies have helped popularize that interpretation because people are often more drawn to myths and spectacle than to carefully studying the Bible itself.

Question: What would humans be like if they were bent on evil and also lived hundreds of years?

Answer: They would become experts at conning, swindling, becoming powerful rulers, and abusing their powers.

If such people can do this today in their few years of life, how much more if they lived to 900 years of age?

About This Study

This study is not affiliated with any denomination. It is based entirely on the Bible and reflects the teaching of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All conclusions are drawn directly from the full context of Scripture, with clear references so readers can examine the evidence for themselves.

The Nephilim Verses in the Bible
Only Adam & Eve’s Descendants Lived 900+ Years
The So-Called “Book of Enoch”
What About Enoch’s Prophecy in the Book of Jude?
Fallen Angels with Giant Children?!
The Spies in the Days of Moses
Goliath and the Anaks

1. The Nephilim Verses in the Bible

There are only two direct references to the Nephilim in the Bible. This is one of them. The other is Numbers 13:32-33 further below:

Genesis 6:1-4

1 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

In other words, sons of Adam & Eve found the daughters of the other humans that God created, beautiful, and had children by them.

1.1 Who were the Sons of God that Married Human Daughters?

In Genesis, Adam was called the "son of God": Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭38 ”the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.“ So it is fitting that Adam's sons also be called the "sons of God", when compared to the other humans God created.

More details here: The children of Adam & Eve Did Not Marry Each Other.

1.2 The main biblical points supporting my interpretation

The Nephilim were cunningly-powerful people who lived hundreds of years as in Verse 4 above - “...the heroes of old, men of renown.”

All the descendants of Adam & Eve died in the flood. Except Noah from "the living" line of Seth - Luke 3:36-38 ...Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Notice how the Bible described life-details and age of the ones in "the living" line, like Adam, Seth, ..., Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. But the rest of Adam & Eve's descendants, the Bible described in one word, "the Nephilim".

In the Genesis 6:1-4 scripture above, notice how in Verse 3 God said He’s no longer putting up with long age of people, and lowered the age limit to 120. The fact that He said it in the same paragraph as the Nephilim, supports this explanation.

2. Only Adam & Eve and Their Descendants (Before the Flood) Lived to Age 900+

As I recently studied this subject in more detail, and prayed about it, I have come to discover another likely explanation - That only the descendants of Adam and Eve (good or bad) lived to hundreds of years, because Adam & Eve ate from the tree of life. But the descendants of the other humans did not live long. However, the marrying between them likely produced a variety of lifespans in those days before the flood. Which was likely one of the reasons God took the age-limiting action in Genesis 6:3.

According to this Genesis reference, Adam & Eve lived so long because they ate from the tree of life. Here is what God said when He banished them from the garden of Eden:

Genesis 3:21–23

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

3. The So-Called "Book of Enoch"

According to many internet sources, this ancient Hebrew book was written hundreds of years after Enoch was taken up to heaven. So it was not written by Enoch! And was rejected and excluded from both the Torah and the Bible.

From Wikipedia and many other internet sources: "The Book of Enoch was excluded from both the formal canon of the Tanakh and the Septuagint and therefore, also from the writings known today as the Deuterocanon. The main reason for Jewish rejection of the book is that it is inconsistent with the teachings of the Torah."

Note, although called the "Book of Enoch", it does not mean that Enoch wrote it! The Jewish custodians of the Torah and the early compilers of the Old Testament did not recognize the Book of Enoch as Scripture, finding it inconsistent with the rest of God’s word. Yes Enoch was a man from that time, declared righteous by God, but no evidence that Enoch himself wrote this book!

4. What About Enoch’s Prophecy in the Book of Jude?

Jude 1:14–15 does quote a prophecy from Enoch, which some use to defend the Book of Enoch. However, this does not validate the entire book as Scripture. The Bible contains only a couple of references to Enoch—one noting that he “walked with God” and was taken by Him (Genesis 5:24), and this one preserved prophecy in Jude. Beyond that, Scripture records nothing else from Enoch. Quoting a true statement does not make an entire book inspired or written by that person. If someone today claimed to have discovered a “Book of Paul” with additional teachings, but it was never recognized as Scripture and contained ideas inconsistent with the rest of the Bible, we would not accept it as authoritative. In the same way, the inclusion of one accurate prophecy in Jude does not make the Book of Enoch part of the Bible or consistent with it.

5. Fallen Angels with Giant Children?!

They were not children of fallen angels; they were the children of the "bad" sons of Adam & Eve. They were not giants. They were the connivingly-powerful people who lived hundreds of years - “the heroes of old, men of renown.”

I did some research into the translation of the Nephilim verses from Hebrew. My findings:

The word “Nephilim” is a transliterated Hebrew term, and its exact meaning is debated. The word "Nephilim" was not used in the original text language of neither the Torah nor the Bible.

What was used in the Torah & the Bible, was a term that can be translated to any combination of these: Tyrants, tough men, powerful, renown, titans, aggressive, ungodly. Although "giants" can be used, it is completely out of context to mean “physical size”.

Many people today simply accept the “giants” misinterpretation without examining the broader scriptural context.

If there were angelic beings or fallen angels having children with human daughters, why did they stop? Are today’s daughters of humans not beautiful?

6. The Spies in the Days of Moses

The ones Moses sent ahead to spy the land, said they saw the Nephilim…

Numbers 13:32-33

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

This was superstition talk from people who did not believe in God. How do I know this? They were the ones who refused to trust God and refused to go into the land and possess it as God instructed them. Instead, because they saw some people larger than usual, they followed their evil instincts. Which they likely got from the unbiblical “book of Enoch”. Those Jewish spies were obviously overwhelmed and scared, and exaggerating everything out of fear.

7. Goliath and the Anaks

The Anaks were not the Nephilim. Because the Nephilim died in the flood, and were not mentioned on Noah’s ark. the Anaks were just people who were larger in size than the average person. Some may have reached unusual heights compared to the average people of that time. Goliath was one of them, and his height was specified in the Bible. Extra tall, yes, but not the sci-fi giants described in books today. Actually this "extra tall" subject is still being researched by historians, archaeological experts, and Bible scholars. Evidence seems to dispute the idea of any height above 9'. Example in this public reference.

In other words, the two terms - “tall people” and “the Nephilim”, were connected by misinterpretations, speculations, and unbiblical books, not by God in the Bible. Scripture itself does not directly connect the Nephilim with later unusually tall people.

We continue seeking God through the full context of Scripture, always willing to reexamine long-held assumptions in light of the Bible as a whole. We never declare we know everything about God then attack anyone who points to Bible verses that contradict the church! We keep studying and seeking Him.

Last updated: May 8, 2026

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