Verse explainer

What does Genesis 6:4 really mean?

"Giants" is a misleading translation — the Hebrew word Nephilim is about fallen, violent men, not towering physical size.

KJV

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

BSB

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

The plain meaning

The English word "giants" here comes from the Hebrew nephilim, which most likely derives from the root naphal, meaning "to fall." The Septuagint rendered it as gigantes, meaning "earth-born," not necessarily enormous in stature — and our word "giants" has since drifted to mean physical bulk almost exclusively. The verse is describing a class of brutal, domineering figures who made themselves notorious through violence and oppression, not through height. The phrase "men of renown" (Hebrew anshey hashshem, literally "men of the name") points to a reputation built by force and conquest. The timing note — "in those days and also after that" — ties these figures to the broader moral collapse described in vv. 5–6, where God observes that every inclination of human hearts was continually evil. The verse records a historical judgment about a culture of predatory power, not a claim about superhuman physiology. The identity of the "sons of God" remains genuinely debated, but the text's emphasis falls on the outcome: a world where might had become completely untethered from righteousness.

The common misreading

Genesis 6:4 is proof that angels mated with humans and produced a race of giant superhumans. This is probably the most sensationalized reading of any verse in Genesis, circulating widely in fringe theology and popular mythology. The text does not say that. It records that nephilim — whose name points to fallenness and destructive violence, not supernatural physiology — were present on the earth, and that the children born from the union of "sons of God" and "daughters of men" became mighty, notorious men. The identity of "sons of God" is genuinely debated among scholars (Seth's lineage vs. rulers vs. divine beings), and serious commentators across centuries have differed. But none of that debate changes the verse's actual emphasis: the result was a culture of brutal, self-aggrandizing power, which is exactly what vv. 5–6 describe as the reason for judgment. Adam Clarke notes that translators rendered several different Hebrew words as "giants," importing a physical-size meaning the originals rarely carry. The verse is describing moral collapse made flesh in domineering men — not an invasion of angel-human hybrids.

What the commentators say

Adam Clarkeearly 19th c. · PD

Clarke argues that nephilim means those who had fallen from true religion — apostate, earth-bound men with an animal and devilish disposition — and that our translators did readers a disservice by rendering seven different Hebrew words uniformly as "giants," implying physical stature when the originals point more often to moral character, ferocity, or wickedness.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown19th c. · PD

JFB note that the Hebrew term implies not so much great stature as reckless ferocity — impious, daring characters who spread devastation and carnage. The emphasis is on destructive moral force, not on physical dimensions.

Matthew Henryearly 18th c. · PD

Henry reads the Nephilim as those who wielded great bulk and great name as instruments of oppression, trampling on what was just and sacred. He observes that great might is a very great snare, and that this generation despised the honor their ancestors had earned by virtue, replacing it with a reputation built on terror and violence.

The word behind it

נְפִלִים nephilim

From the root naphal, "to fall." The word may mean those who fell (apostates or the fallen), or those who cause others to fall — i.e., violent, devastating aggressors. The Septuagint translated it as gigantes ("earth-born"), which our English "giants" inherited, but the Hebrew root carries no implication of unusual height. The word's force is moral and social: these were men of ruinous, domineering character.

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