Editing Nephilim (section)

===Fallen angels===
{{main|Fallen angel}}
[[File:The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair, by Daniel Chester French, modeled by 1918, carved 1923 - Corcoran Gallery of Art - DSC01065.JPG|thumb|upright|''The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair'', sculpture by [[Daniel Chester French]]]]
From the third century BC onwards, references are found in the [[Book of Enoch|Enochic literature]], the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]],<ref>{{cite book |section=[[Genesis Apocryphon]] |title=[[Damascus Document]] |id=4Q180}}</ref> [[Jubilees]], the Testament of Reuben, {{nobr|[[2 Baruch]]}}, [[Josephus]], and the [[Book of Jude]] (compare with {{nobr|2 Peter 2}}). For example:
: {{nobr|1 Enoch 7:}}[2]"And when the angels, [3]the sons of heaven, beheld them, they became enamoured of them, saying to each other, Come, let us select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let us beget children."
Some Christian apologists, such as [[Tertullian]] and especially [[Lactantius]], shared this opinion.

The earliest statement in a secondary commentary explicitly interpreting this to mean that angelic beings mated with humans can be traced to the rabbinical ''[[Targum Pseudo-Jonathan]]'' and it has since become especially commonplace in modern Christian commentaries. This line of interpretation finds additional support in the text of Genesis&nbsp;6:4, which juxtaposes the sons of God (male gender, divine nature) with the daughters of men (female gender, human nature). From this parallelism it could be inferred that the sons of God are understood as some superhuman beings.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last=Kosior |first=Wojciech |year=2010 |title=Synowie bogów i córki człowieka. Kosmiczny 'mezalians' i jego efekty w Księdze Rodzaju 6:1–6 |lang=pl |trans-title=The cosmic mis-alliance and its effects in Genesis 6:1–6  |journal=Ex Nihilo: Periodyk Młodych Religioznawców |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=73–74 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3472159}}
:
{{cite web |title=English translation of "The cosmic mis-alliance and its effects in Genesis 6:1–6" |date=30 May 2011 |translator-first=Daniel |translator-last=Kalinowski |url=http://acalyludpowieamen.pl/the-cosmic-misalliance-and-its-effects-in-genesis-61-6/ |url-status=dead <!-- presumed --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205081947/http://acalyludpowieamen.pl/the-cosmic-misalliance-and-its-effects-in-genesis-61-6/ |archive-date=2016-02-05 }}</ref>

The ''[[New American Bible]]'' commentary draws a parallel to the [[Epistle of Jude]] and the statements set forth in Genesis, suggesting that the Epistle refers implicitly to the paternity of Nephilim as heavenly beings who came to earth and had sexual intercourse with women.<ref name=NAB-p1370-footnotes>{{cite book |title=New American Bible |title-link=New American Bible |at=footnotes, p.&nbsp;1370, referring to verse&nbsp;6.}}</ref>{{efn|
"The angels too, who did not keep to their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains, in gloom, for the judgement of the great day. Likewise, [[Sodom and Gomorrah]], and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire."<ref name=NAB-p1370-footnotes/>
}} The footnotes of the [[Jerusalem Bible]] suggest that the biblical author intended the Nephilim to be an "anecdote of a superhuman race". Superhuman, in this context, refers to the extremity of their wickedness.{{efn|
The author does not present this episode as a myth nor, on the other hand, does he deliver judgment on its actual occurrence; he records the anecdote of a superhuman race simply to serve as an example of the increase in human wickedness which was to provoke [[Noah's Ark|the Flood]].<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Jerusalem Bible]] |chapter=Genesis&nbsp;6 |at=footnote }}</ref>
}}

Some Christian commentators have argued against this view, citing [[Jesus]]'s statement that angels do not marry.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Matthew|22:30}}</ref> Others disagree since Jesus also compared angels to men, thus implying the former's ability to have sex.<ref>{{cite web |first=Bob |last=Deffinbaugh |title=The sons of God and the daughters of men |series=Genesis: From paradise to patriarchs |url=http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=67 |website=bible.org }}</ref> Angels are also never explicitly described as being incapable of marriage. The absence of marriage among angels can be thus compared to wilful [[celibacy]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Heiser |first=Michael S. |year=2021 |title=Who are the Nephilim and what is their origin? |url=https://www.logos.com/grow/who-or-what-were-the-nephilim/ |website=Logos (logos.com) }}</ref>

Evidence cited in favor of the fallen angels interpretation includes the fact that the phrase "the sons of God" (Hebrew: {{Script/Hebrew|בְּנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים}}; or "sons of the gods") is used twice outside of Genesis&nbsp;6, in the [[Book of Job]] (1:6 and 2:1) where the phrase explicitly references angels. The [[Septuagint]] manuscript [[Codex Alexandrinus]] reading of Genesis&nbsp;6:2 renders this phrase as "the angels of God" while [[Codex Vaticanus]] reads "sons".<ref>{{cite book |last=Swete |first=Henry Barclay |title=The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint |volume=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1901 |page=9 |url=https://archive.org/stream/oldtestamentingr01swetuoft#page/n40/mode/1up}} Greek text: "{{math|οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ}}"</ref>

Another modern view that aligns with the fallen angel interpretation includes Nephilim being the offspring of [[Demon possession|demon-possessed]] men and women.<ref>{{cite web |title=Genesis&nbsp;6:4 commentary |website=Bible Ref (bibleref.com) |url=https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/6/Genesis-6-4.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326103401/https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/6/Genesis-6-4.html |archive-date=26 March 2024 }}</ref>

====Second Temple Judaism====
{{Main|Book of Enoch|Book of Jubilees|Watcher (angel)}}
{{see also|Second Temple Judaism}}
The story of the Nephilim is further elaborated in the [[Book of Enoch]]. The Greek, Aramaic, and main Ge'ez manuscripts of 1&nbsp;Enoch and [[Jubilees]] obtained in the 19th&nbsp;century and held in the [[British Museum]] and [[Vatican Library]], connect the origin of the Nephilim with the fallen angels, and in particular with the {{lang|grc-Latn|[[Watcher (angel)|egrḗgoroi]]}} (''watchers''). [[Samyaza]], an [[angel]] of high rank, is described as leading a rebel sect of angels in a descent to earth to have sexual intercourse with human females:
{{quote|And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: "Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children." And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: "I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin." And they all answered him and said: "Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing." Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it&nbsp;...<ref>{{cite web |first=Timothy R. |last=Carnahan |title=Book&nbsp;1: Watchers |website=Academy for Ancient Texts (ancienttexts.org) |url=http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/ethiopian/enoch/1watchers/watchers.htm |access-date=14 August 2012}}</ref>}}

In this tradition, the children of the Nephilim are called the [[Elioud]], who are considered a separate race from the Nephilim, but they share the fate of the Nephilim.

Some believe the fallen angels who [[human reproduction|begat]] the Nephilim were cast into [[Tartarus]] ({{nobr|2 Peter 2:4,}} Jude&nbsp;1:6) (Greek Enoch&nbsp;20:2),{{efn|
"He may be Uriel, if it is legitimate to compare {{nobr|1 Enoch xx. 2,}} according to which he was the angel set over the world and Tartarus ({{math|ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ Ταρτάρου}}). In 1&nbsp;Enoch, ''[[Tartarus]]'' is the nether world generally."<ref>{{cite book |first=R.H. |last=Charles |title=A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St.&nbsp;John |page=239 }}</ref>{{verify inline|date=December 2022|reason=quotation was missing a closing quotation mark }}{{full citation|date=July 2024|reason=year, publisher, ISBN}}
}} a place of "total darkness". An interpretation is that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to remain after [[Noah's Ark|the Flood]], as [[demon]]s, to try to lead the human race astray until the [[final Judgment]]. Another similar view was proposed by Dr. Michael Heiser, an [[Old Testament]] scholar from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]. In his book ''The Unseen Realm'' he states that the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim became what has been known as demons or unclean spirits.<ref>{{cite web |title=Where do demons come from? |website=logos.com |date=15 February 2021 |url=https://www.logos.com/grow/where-do-demons-come-from/ }}</ref>

In addition to ''Enoch'', the ''[[Book of Jubilees]]'' (7:21–25) also states that ridding the Earth of these Nephilim was one of God's purposes for flooding the Earth in Noah's time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=van Ruiten |first=J.T.A.G.M. |date=2022-05-20 |title=Primaeval History Interpreted: The rewriting of Genesis&nbsp;1–11 in the Book of Jubilees |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-49806-8 |page=226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ighyEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA226 |lang=en }}</ref> These works describe the Nephilim as being evil giants.

The New Testament [[Epistle of Jude]]&nbsp;(14–15) cites from {{nobr|[[1 Enoch]] 1:9,}} which many scholars believe is based on [[Deuteronomy]]&nbsp;33:2.<ref>
{{cite book
 |editor-first=R.H. |editor-last=Charles
 |year=1912
 |title=Book of Enoch: Together with a reprint of the Greek fragments
 |place=London, UK
 |page={{mvar|lviii}}
}}
</ref><ref group=lower-alpha>
"1.9 In 'He comes with ten thousands of His holy ones'
the text reproduces the [[Masoretic]] of Deut.&nbsp;33:2 in reading {{script/Hebrew|אָתָא}} = {{math|ἔρχεται}}, whereas the three [[Targum]]s, [[Syriac versions of the Bible|the Syriac]], and [[Vulgate]] read {{script/Hebrew|אִתֹּה}} = {{math|μετ' αὐτοῦ}}. Here the [[Septuagint|LXX]] diverges wholly. The reading {{script/Hebrew|אתא}} is recognised as original. The writer of 1–5 therefore used the Hebrew text and presumably wrote in Hebrew."{{harvp|Charles|1912|p={{mvar|lviii}} }}
</ref>{{efn|
"We may note especially that 1:1, 3–4, 9, allude unmistakably to Deuteronomy&nbsp;33:1–2 (along with other passages in the Hebrew Bible), implying that the author, like some other Jewish writers, read Deuteronomy&nbsp;33–34, the last words of Moses in the Torah, as prophecy of the future history of Israel, and 33:2 as referring to the eschatological theophany of God as judge."<ref>
{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Bauckham |year=1999 |title=The Jewish world around the New Testament: Collected essays |page=276 }}
</ref>
}}{{efn|
"The introduction ... picks up various biblical passages and re-interprets them, applying them to Enoch. Two passages are central to it: The first is Deuteronomy&nbsp;33:1 ... the second is Numbers&nbsp;24:3–4."{{verify inline|date=December 2022|reason=this quotation was missing a closing quotation mark}}<ref>
{{cite book |first=Michael E. |last=Stone |year= |title=Selected studies in pseudepigrapha and apocrypha with special reference to the Armenian Tradition |series=Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha |volume=9 |page=422 }} {{full citation|date=July 2024 |reason=no date; no publisher; no ISBN / DOI }}
</ref>
}} To most commentators this confirms that the author of Jude regarded the Enochic interpretations of Genesis&nbsp;6 as correct; however, others<ref>
{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Green |year= |title=The second epistle general of Peter, and the general epistle of Jude |page=59 }} {{full citation|date=July 2024 |reason=no date; no publisher; no ISBN / DOI }}
</ref> have questioned this.