Editing Nephilim (section)

==In the Hebrew Bible==
In the Hebrew Bible, there are three interconnected passages referencing the ''nephilim.'' Two of them come from the [[Torah|Pentateuch]]. The first occurrence is in Genesis&nbsp;6:1–4, immediately before the account of [[Noah's Ark]]. Genesis&nbsp;6:4 reads as follows:

{{quote|The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.<ref name=JPS_1917>{{cite book |title=Pentateuch |year=1917 |title-link=Torah |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |lang=en }}</ref>}}

Where the [[Jewish Publication Society of America Version|Jewish Publication Society's translation]] simply transliterates the Hebrew ''nephilim'' as "Nephilim",<ref name=JPS_1917/> the [[King James Version]] translates the term as "giants".<ref>{{cite web |title=Genesis&nbsp;6 in parallel Hebrew–English format |url=http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0106.htm |website=Mechon Mamre (mechon-mamre.org) }}</ref>

The nature of the Nephilim is complicated by the ambiguity of Genesis&nbsp;6:4, which leaves it unclear whether they are the "sons of God" or their offspring who are the "mighty men of old, men of renown". [[Richard Hess]] takes it to mean that the Nephilim are the offspring,<ref>{{cite dictionary |author-first=Richard |author-last=Hess |year=1997 |orig-year=1992 |title=Nephilim |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=David Noel |dictionary=The Anchor Bible Dictionary |place=New York, NY |publisher=Doubleday}}</ref> as does P.W. Coxon.<ref name=Coxon-1999-DoDDB>{{cite dictionary |author-last=Coxon |author-first=P.W. |year=1999 |title=Nephilim |editor1-last=van der Toorn |editor1-first=K. |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter Willem |dictionary=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0802824912 |page=619 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=Nephilim |via=Google Books |access-date=5 June 2015 }}</ref>

The second is Numbers&nbsp;13:32–33, where ten of [[the Twelve Spies]] describe the Anakites (a [[Rephaite]] tribe) as descendants of the Nephilim:

{{quote|And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of [[Anak]], who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.<ref name=JPS_1917/>}}

Outside the Pentateuch there is one more passage indirectly referencing ''nephilim'' and this is Ezekiel&nbsp;32:17–32. Of special significance is Ezekiel&nbsp;32:27, which contains a phrase of disputed meaning. With the traditional vowels added to the text in the medieval period, the phrase is read ''gibborim nophlim'' ("'fallen warriors" or "fallen [[Gibborim (biblical)|Gibborim]]"), although some scholars read the phrase as ''gibborim nephilim'' ("Nephilim warriors" or "warriors, Nephilim").<ref>{{cite book |last=Zimmerli |first=W. |year=1983 |title=Ezekiel: A commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters&nbsp;25–48 |publisher=Fortress |series=Hermeneia |location=Philadelphia, PA |pages=168, 176 |lang=en-us |translator-last=Martin |translator-first=J.D. }}</ref><ref name=Hendel-1987/><ref name=Coxon-1999-DoDDB/> According to R.S.&nbsp;Hendel, the phrase should be interpreted as "warriors, the Nephilim" in a reference to Genesis&nbsp;6:4. The verse as understood by Hendel reads:
{{quote|They lie with the warriors, the Nephilim of old, who descended to [[Sheol]] with their weapons of war. They placed their swords beneath their heads and their shields upon their bones, for the terror of the warriors was upon the land of the living.<ref name=Hendel-1987/>}}

B.R. Doak, on the other hand, proposes to read the term as the Hebrew verb "fallen" (נופלים ''nophlim''), not a use of the specific term "Nephilim", but still according to Doak a clear reference to the Nephilim tradition as found in Genesis.<ref name=Doak-2013/>{{rp|style=ama|p= [https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ccs/9 622]}}