Genesis 6:4
“The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
What does Genesis 6:4 mean?
This mysterious passage describes a time when powerful, possibly superhuman beings called Nephilim walked the earth, born from unions between divine beings and human women. These offspring became legendary warriors and famous figures known throughout ancient times. The text sits in the buildup to the flood story, suggesting that humanity's corruption had become so severe that even the boundary between heaven and earth was being crossed in ways that displeased God. Whether you read this as literal history, symbolic language about human pride and corruption, or something in between, the passage conveys that things had grown deeply wrong in the world, setting the stage for God's judgment and Noah's story.