Podcast / Episode 3

Divine Marriages and the Nephilim

Genesis 6:1–8 · World English Bible (public domain)

Eight verses, and they are among the strangest in the Bible. Divine beings come down and take human wives. Their children are giants. God caps human life at a hundred and twenty years. They read like the surviving fragment of something longer, and that is more or less what most scholars think they are. We will read them, and then spend longer on what they have been made to carry.

How to read these notes

Every statement of fact in the commentary was recorded next to the sentence that makes it, together with what it rests on. A claim whose source has not yet been located says so plainly. The notes follow the episode in the order it is heard.

  • fact: checkable outside this series; a source is named.
  • measured: a count or figure worked out from the Bible text itself.
  • judgement: the narrator’s own opinion, stated as one; no source is owed.

“Text check” says where to look in the Bible text. “Checked” says how and when the claim was confirmed. Where scholars disagree, the note says CONTESTED and which way the field leans.

44 claims · 1 still without a source

Opening

“Eight verses, and they are among the strangest in the Bible. Divine beings come down and take human wives. Their children are…”

  1. measuredThe passage consists of eight verses.

    Text check: Gen 6:1-8

    Checked: counted, 2026-09-20 (Gen 6:1-8 is eight verses)

  2. judgementThese verses are among the strangest in the Bible.

  3. factDivine beings come down and take human wives.

    Text check: Gen 6:2

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:2)

  4. factThe children of these divine beings and human wives are giants.

    Text check: Gen 6:4

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:4)

  5. factGod limits human life to one hundred and twenty years.

    Text check: Gen 6:3

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:3)

  6. factGod decides to drown the world.

    Text check: Gen 6:7; Gen 6:13

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:7; Gen 6:13)

  7. factThese verses are a surviving fragment of a longer story.

    Source: Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Continental Commentary (Fortress Press, 1985), on Genesis 6:1-4, p. 373; E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (Doubleday, 1964), p. 45

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (Westermann p. 373 (with Gunkel): the narrative cannot be intact; p. 368: the myth is preserved only in fragments and hints; Speiser p. 45 calls it an isolated fragment and asks whether it is an excerpt from a fuller account)

    Named in the script: most scholars

After Gen 6:8

“Start with the sons of God. In Hebrew, bene ha-elohim, and it is not a metaphor for pious men, which is a reading that appears…”

  1. factThe phrase 'sons of God' is written in Hebrew as bene ha-elohim.

    Text check: Gen 6:2

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:2)

  2. factThe reading that 'sons of God' is a metaphor for pious men appeared only much later.

    Source: Wikipedia, “Sons of God”

    Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_God

    Checked: web, 2026-09-19 (The extract states that interpreting 'sons of God' as the righteous offspring of Seth began in the 2nd–4th century CE.)

  3. measuredThe phrase bene ha-elohim appears in the book of Job where the sons of God present themselves before Yahweh.

    Text check: Job 1:6; Job 2:1

    Source: YHWH's Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach (Dan McClellan; 2022), note at Job 2:1

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-09-19 (scholarship_bible_verse_notes #104, cosine 0.81)

  4. factThe divine council appears in Psalm eighty-two.

    Text check: Ps 82:1; Ps 82:6

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-20 (Ps 82:1 'God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods'; 82:6 'You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High'. The phrase bene ha-elohim itself is Gen 6:2,4 and Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7, which is why the script no longer says it is here.)

  5. factIn Psalm eighty-two, God stands in the divine council and passes judgement among the gods.

    Text check: Ps 82:1

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Ps 82:1)

  6. factScholars have spent careers studying this material.

    Named in the script: Mark Smith

    Source not yet located (searched scripture, count, scholarship, web on 2026-09-19 without result).

  7. factEarly Israelite religion had a pantheon arranged as a royal court.

    Source: The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Mark S. Smith; 2001), note at Exodus 15:11

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-09-19 (scholarship_bible_verse_notes #9992, cosine 0.80)

  8. factThe sons of God are the lesser members of the Israelite pantheon.

    Source: The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Mark S. Smith; 2001)

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-09-19 (scholarship_notes #34897, cosine 0.85)

  9. judgementThe sons of God in this passage behave the way Greek gods behave.

After Gen 6:8

“What they father are the heroes of old, and beside them the text sets the Nephilim, and four words in that verse do a great deal…”

  1. factGenesis 6:4 names the Nephilim beside the heroes of old, the children of the divine beings and human women.

    Text check: Gen 6:9

    Source: E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (Doubleday, 1964), p. 44

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (his translation of vs. 4: the Nephilim appeared on earth, as well as later, after the divine beings had united with human daughters; 'those were the heroes of old'. Westermann p. 378: the verse does not say who or what the Nephilim were)

  2. factThe Nephilim were in the earth in those days and also after that.

    Text check: Gen 6:4

    Source: Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Continental Commentary (Fortress Press, 1985), on Genesis 6:1-4, p. 378

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (he calls 'and afterwards too' a later correction (a gloss), made because the distance to the spies' Nephilim in Num 13:33 is too great)

  3. factThe flood removes every living thing from the earth.

    Text check: Gen 7:21-23

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 7:21-23)

  4. factIsraelite spies in the book of Numbers report seeing the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, in Canaan.

    Text check: Num 13:33

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Num 13:33)

    Named in the script: book of Numbers

  5. factThe Israelite spies reported feeling like grasshoppers beside the Nephilim.

    Text check: Num 13:33

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Num 13:33)

    Named in the script: book of Numbers

  6. factThe biblical text does not explain how the giants survived the flood.

    Source: The Nephilim: a Tall Story? Who Were the Nephilim and How Did They Survive the Flood? — Robin Routledge (2015)

    Link: https://doi.org/10.53751/001c.29386

    Checked: web, 2026-09-19 (The extract explicitly states that how the Nephilim survived the flood does not appear to be of interest to the OT writers.)

After Gen 6:8

“Ancient readers found all of this as startling as we do, and the first readers we know of did not respond by explaining it away.…”

  1. judgementAncient readers found the account in Genesis 6 startling.

  2. factThe angel reading in First Enoch is the oldest known interpretation of Genesis 6; the Sethite explanation came later.

    Source: Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Continental Commentary (Fortress Press, 1985), on Genesis 6:1-4, p. 365 and p. 371; George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 168

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 365: the angel reading goes back to the book of Enoch (c. 150 B.C.) and runs for hundreds of years in dispute with the Sethite explanation; p. 371: the scandal of the angels-explanation led to the Sethite explanation)

  3. factThe oldest part of First Enoch, the Watchers story, was written around three hundred years before the common era.

    Source: George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), pp. 168, 170

    Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Enoch

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 168: the Shemihazah story 'can be dated to the end of the fourth century B.C.E.'; p. 170: its composition lower limit 'well before 200 B.C.E., at least in the early third century'; all stages precede 4QEn-a in the early second century.)

    Named in the script: First Enoch

  4. factFirst Enoch builds a mythology based on the fragment in Genesis 6.

    Text check: 1 Enoch 6-8

    Source: George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), pp. 165, 168

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 165: the angelic-rebellion myth is 'foundational and central to the Enochic tradition'; p. 168: its earliest form is 'a paraphrasing interpretation of Genesis'.)

    Named in the script: First Enoch

  5. factFirst Enoch describes two hundred rebel angels.

    Text check: 1 Enoch 6:6

    Source: George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 165

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 165: 'Shemihazah is the leader of two hundred angels who proposes the deed (the procreation of the giants)'.)

    Named in the script: First Enoch

  6. factFirst Enoch describes a named leader of the rebel angels.

    Text check: 1 Enoch 6:3

    Source: George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 165

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 165: Shemihazah is named as leader of the two hundred angels (chap. 6).)

    Named in the script: First Enoch

  7. factFirst Enoch describes forbidden knowledge taught to human beings.

    Source: George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), pp. 165, 171

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 165: Asael 'reveals deadly secrets'; p. 171: Asael taught forbidden knowledge about metallurgy and mining, jewelry and cosmetics 'to human beings'.)

    Named in the script: First Enoch

  8. factFirst Enoch describes giants who devour the earth.

    Source: George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, Hermeneia (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 167

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 167: the giants are 'a malevolent and belligerent breed of warriors, who prey on the human race by devouring their crops and eating their flesh' and devour the animal world.)

    Named in the script: First Enoch

  9. factThe letter of Jude quotes First Enoch by name as prophecy.

    Text check: Jude 14-15

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Jude 14-15)

    Named in the script: the letter of Jude

  10. factThe author of Jude treated the story behind the eight verses in Genesis 6 as a real example of divine judgment.

    Source: Richard J. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, Word Biblical Themes (Word, 1990), p. 14

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 14: the angels of Jude 6 are 'the sons of God' of Genesis 6:1-4, as interpreted in Jewish tradition; Jude 6 alludes specifically to 1 Enoch 6-11, and Jude uses them as an example of sin and judgment)

  11. factThe author of Jude held the book of First Enoch in great respect.

    Source: Richard J. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, Word Biblical Themes (Word, 1990), pp. 8-9

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (p. 8: Jude evidently had great respect for 1 Enoch, quoting it in vv. 14-15 and echoing it in vv. 6 and 12-13; p. 9: we cannot tell its precise status, and need not suppose he included it in his canon)

After Gen 6:8

“At the end of eight of the strangest verses in the Bible, one sentence turns everything. But Noah found favour in Yahweh's eyes.…”

  1. factNoah found favour in Yahweh's eyes.

    Text check: Gen 6:8

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:8)

  2. factThe Hebrew word for favour in this context is chen.

    Text check: Gen 6:8

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:8)

  3. factThe Hebrew phrase in Genesis 6:8 is translated 'found favor' by Speiser and Westermann.

    Source: E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible 1 (Doubleday, 1964), p. 46; Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11: A Continental Commentary (Fortress Press, 1985), on Genesis 6:8, p. 388

    Checked: scholarship, 2026-10-22 (both translate the phrase as 'found favor' (Speiser: 'Noah found favor with Yahweh'; Westermann: 'Noah had found favor in the eyes of Yahweh'); neither glosses it as grace)

  4. factThe word chen appears for the first time in scripture in Genesis 6:8.

    Text check: Gen 6:8

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:8)

  5. factGenesis 6 mentions divine marriages.

    Text check: Gen 6:1-4

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:1-4)

  6. factGenesis 6 mentions giants.

    Text check: Gen 6:4

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:4)

  7. factGenesis 6 mentions a lifespan cap.

    Text check: Gen 6:3

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:3)

  8. factGenesis 6 mentions a decision to wipe out everything that breathes.

    Text check: Gen 6:7; Gen 6:17

    Checked: scripture, 2026-09-18 (rests on our own reading: Gen 6:7; Gen 6:17)

  9. judgementEight verses in the Bible are among the strangest.

Close

“So: eight verses, a broken-off piece of a story nobody kept the rest of, and a council of divine beings that later writers could…”

  1. factGenesis 6:1-4 describes the sons of God and the daughters of men.

    Text check: Gen 6:1-4

  2. judgementGenesis 6:1-4 reads like the surviving fragment of a longer story.

Notes generated 2026-10-24.