Who Were the Nephilim? Were They Really the Offspring of Fallen Angels and Humans?

The Nephilim are one of the strangest mysteries in the Bible.

Some people say they were giants. Others believe they were the children of fallen angels and human women. Still others believe they were simply powerful or violent men who lived before the Flood.

So which is it?

The Bible gives us only a few details, which is why this subject has led to so many different ideas. Rather than starting with what people say about the Nephilim, let’s start with what Scripture actually says.

The Strange Story in Genesis 6

The first mention of the Nephilim comes in Genesis 6, just before the Flood.

Genesis 6:1-2 (NIV) — “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.”

Then comes the verse that introduces the Nephilim:

Genesis 6:4 (NIV) — “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.”

There are several things happening here.

We have the sons of God, the daughters of humans, children born from these relationships, and the Nephilim.

But who were the sons of God?

And who were the Nephilim?

Let’s start with the sons of God.

Who Were the “Sons of God”?

There are two main interpretations.

The first says that the “sons of God” were human men, often understood as the descendants of Seth, who married women from an ungodly line.

The second says that they were heavenly beings who rebelled against God and took human women.

The second interpretation may sound strange at first. But there is an important reason people understand the phrase this way.

Look at how the expression “sons of God” is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.

Job 1:6 (NASB) — “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord…”

The same expression appears again in Job 2:1.

Then, when God describes the creation of the earth, He says:

Job 38:7 (NASB) — “When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

These “sons of God” were present when God created the earth, before human beings existed.

So in Job, the phrase refers to heavenly beings.

That is one of the main reasons many readers understand the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 as heavenly beings as well.

What About the Sons of Seth?

The other interpretation connects Genesis 6 with the family lines described in Genesis 4 and 5.

In this view, the descendants of Seth represented a godly line, while the descendants of Cain represented a rebellious one. The “sons of God” would therefore be the godly descendants who began marrying women from the ungodly line.

There is a connection between these chapters, and this interpretation has a long history.

But Genesis 6 itself does not call Seth’s descendants the “sons of God.” It also does not explicitly say that the “daughters of humans” were descendants of Cain.

Those details are part of the interpretation rather than something Genesis directly tells us.

So the Seth interpretation is possible, but the way “sons of God” is used in Job gives the heavenly-being interpretation a significant biblical basis.

But if these were heavenly beings, another question naturally comes up:

Could angels actually appear in human form?

Can Angels Appear in Human Form?

The Bible gives us examples of angels appearing as people.

In Genesis 18, Abraham is visited by three men. He welcomes them, gives them food, and they eat.

Then Genesis 19 identifies two of these visitors:

Genesis 19:1 (NIV) — “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening.”

The people of Sodom see them as men. The angels even take hold of Lot and pull him inside when the situation becomes dangerous.

Genesis 19:10 (NIV) — “But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.”

Hebrews gives us another interesting reminder:

Hebrews 13:2 (NIV) — “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

So Scripture does show angels appearing in human form.

That does not prove what happened in Genesis 6. But it does mean we cannot simply rule out the heavenly-being interpretation by saying that angels are spiritual beings and therefore could never appear physically.

There is another reason this interpretation deserves a closer look.

What Do Jude and Peter Tell Us?

Genesis 6 is not the only passage that makes people wonder about the “sons of God.” Two short passages in the New Testament also mention angels who sinned in unusual ways.

Let’s start with Jude.

What Does Jude Say?

Jude 6 (NIV) — “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.”

Jude says that some angels did something they were not supposed to do. They did not keep their proper position but abandoned their proper dwelling. Because of their rebellion, they are being kept for judgment.

Then Jude immediately gives the example of Sodom and Gomorrah:

Jude 7 (NIV) — “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion.”

Jude connects the angels’ rebellion with the sexual sin of Sodom. Exactly what he means by “in a similar way” has been debated, so we should not claim more than the passage tells us.

But Jude clearly describes a group of angels who rebelled and received a particular judgment.

Now let’s look at Peter.

What Does Peter Say?

2 Peter 2:4-5 (NIV) — “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah…”

Peter also speaks about angels who sinned and were placed under judgment.

But there is one detail that makes this passage especially interesting.

Peter mentions these sinful angels and then immediately talks about the ancient world and the Flood in Noah’s time.

So both Jude and Peter describe angels who sinned, were judged, and are being held for future judgment. Peter also places his discussion alongside the events of Noah’s generation.

When we put these passages beside Genesis 6, the connection becomes interesting:

• Genesis 6 speaks about the sons of God taking human women.
• Job uses “sons of God” for heavenly beings.
• Jude speaks about angels who abandoned their proper dwelling.
• Peter speaks about angels who sinned and then mentions the Flood.

None of these passages gives us a complete explanation of Genesis 6.

But taken together, they provide a serious biblical basis for understanding the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 as rebellious heavenly beings.

Were the Nephilim Their Children?

This is where we need to slow down.

Genesis 6:4 says:

Genesis 6:4 (NIV) — “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.”

The verse clearly places the Nephilim in the same setting as these relationships.

But does it actually say that the Nephilim were the children produced by those relationships?

Not quite.

The wording leaves some room for interpretation.

The Nephilim are mentioned first, and then Genesis describes the sons of God having children with the daughters of humans. The verse then says:

“They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

Some understand “they” to refer to the children born from those relationships. Others understand it more broadly.

So it is better not to make the verse say more than it actually says.

Genesis connects the Nephilim with this strange event, but it does not give us enough detail to explain exactly who they were or precisely how they were related to the sons of God.

That distinction matters.

Were the Nephilim Really Giants?

The word Nephilim is often translated as “giants,” but the Hebrew word itself is not simply the ordinary Hebrew word for “giants.”

Its exact meaning and origin are debated.

The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament used the word gigantes for Nephilim. This helped establish the connection between the Nephilim and the idea of giants.

That is why the Nephilim are often pictured as enormous people.

But Genesis 6 does not give us their height.

It describes them as Nephilim and then speaks about mighty men and people of renown.

So we should be careful about adding details that the text itself does not provide.

The Bible tells us they were unusual and connected with a remarkable period in human history.

It does not tell us exactly how tall they were.

What About the Nephilim After the Flood?

Now we come to one of the most difficult questions.

Genesis says the Nephilim were present before the Flood. Yet hundreds of years later, the Israelite spies mention them in Canaan.

Numbers 13:33 (NIV) — “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes…”

So how could Nephilim appear again after the Flood?

There are several ways this has been understood.

One possibility is that the word was being used for people who were unusually large or powerful.

Another is that the spies were using the name “Nephilim” to describe the frightening people they saw or the stories they had heard about them.

There is also an important detail about this report.

The spies were terrified, and their report was condemned.

Numbers 13:32 (NIV) — “And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.”

They described themselves as grasshoppers compared with the people of the land.

Because the report was given in fear and was judged as an evil report, we should be cautious about using every detail of it as a precise description of the people in Canaan.

The passage does not give us enough information to confidently explain whether these Nephilim were directly connected to the Nephilim of Genesis 6.

And that is one question we may simply have to leave open.

So, What Were the Nephilim?

After looking at all these passages, we can understand why the fallen-angels interpretation has been taken seriously for so long.

Genesis 6 speaks about the “sons of God” taking human women. Job uses the same expression for heavenly beings. Jude speaks about angels who abandoned their proper dwelling, and Peter speaks about angels who sinned and connects their judgment with the time of Noah.

Taken together, these passages provide a serious biblical basis for understanding the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 as rebellious heavenly beings.

But we should also recognize where Scripture becomes less clear.

The Bible does not explicitly say, “The Nephilim were the children of fallen angels.”

It does not explain exactly how such a union could happen.

It does not clearly explain the relationship between the Nephilim in Genesis 6 and those mentioned in Numbers 13.

And it does not tell us how tall the Nephilim were.

So there is a difference between what Scripture tells us and what we might conclude from it.

The Nephilim were connected with one of the strangest events recorded before the Flood. Rebellious heavenly beings appear to have been involved in a serious act of disobedience, but the Bible does not give us every detail.

And perhaps that is okay.

The Bible was not written to satisfy our curiosity about every mystery in the unseen world. It tells us what God wants us to know.

The Nephilim may be fascinating, but they are not the main point of Genesis 6.

The larger issue is the growing wickedness of humanity.

Genesis 6:5 (NIV) — “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”

The earth was filled with violence, and God saw exactly what was happening.

We may not know everything about the Nephilim.

But we know who was watching. And we know that God remained in control.

Last updated 29 September 2026