Editing Nephilim (section)

===Descendants of Seth and Cain===
References to the offspring of [[Seth]] rebelling from God and mingling with the daughters of [[Cain]] are found from the second century&nbsp;AD onwards in both Christian and Jewish sources (e.g., Rabbi [[Shimon bar Yochai]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], [[Sextus Julius Africanus]], and the [[Clementine literature|Letters attributed to St.&nbsp;Clement]]). It is also the view expressed in the modern canonical [[Amharic]] [[Bible translations (Amharic)|Ethiopian Orthodox Bible]]: Henok&nbsp;2:1–3
: "and the Offspring of Seth, who were upon the Holy Mount, saw them and loved them. And they told one another, 'Come, let us choose for us daughters from Cain's children; let us bear children for us.{{'"}}

Orthodox Judaism has taken a stance against the idea that Genesis&nbsp;6 refers to angels or that angels could intermarry with men. [[Shimon bar Yochai]] pronounced a curse on anyone teaching this idea. [[Rashi]] and [[Nachmanides]] followed this. [[Pseudo-Philo]] (''Biblical Antiquities''&nbsp;3:1–3) may also imply that the "sons of God" were human.<ref>{{cite book |first=James L. |last=Kugel |title=Traditions of the Bible: A guide to the Bible as it was at the start of the Common Era |date=1998 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674791510}} {{page?|date=October 2022}}</ref> 
}} This is also the rendering suggested in the [[Targum Onqelos]], [[Symmachus (translator)#His translation|Symmachus]] and the [[Samaritan Targum]], which read "sons of the rulers", where [[Targum Neophyti]] reads "sons of the judges".

Likewise, a long-held view among some Christians is that the "sons of God" were the formerly righteous descendants of Seth who rebelled, while the "daughters of men" were the unrighteous descendants of Cain, and the Nephilim the offspring of their union.{{efn|
Later Judaism and almost all the earliest ecclesiastical writers identify the "sons of God" with the fallen angels; but from the fourth century onwards, as the idea of angelic natures becomes less material, the Fathers commonly take the "sons of God" to be Seth's descendants and the "daughters of men" those of Cain.<ref name=":4">{{cite book |title=[[Jerusalem Bible]] |chapter=Genesis&nbsp;VI |at=footnote }}</ref>
}} This view, dating to at least the 1st&nbsp;century AD in Jewish literature as described above, is also found in Christian sources from the 3rd&nbsp;century if not earlier, with references throughout the [[Clementine literature]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Kitãb al-Magāll, or the Book of the Rolls. One of the books of Clement |website=sacred-texts.com |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aa/aa2.htm |access-date=5 June 2015}}</ref> as well as in [[Sextus Julius Africanus]],<ref name=":6">{{cite web |last=Methodius |first=Arn |year= |title=Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius, and minor writers |id=ANF06 |website=ccel.org |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf06.v.v.ii.html?highlight=cain,seth#highlight |access-date=5 June 2015 }}</ref> [[Ephrem the Syrian]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Commentary in Genesis |at=6:3 }}</ref> and others. Holders of this view have looked for support in Jesus' statement that "in those days before [[Noah's Ark|the flood]] ''they'' [humans] were ... ''marrying and giving in marriage''" ({{bibleverse||Matthew|24:38|NASB}}, emphasis added).<ref>{{cite web |first=Rick |last=Wade |title=The Nephilim |series=Answering e‑mail |website=probe.org |date=27 May 2005 |url=http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4223637/k.8840/Answering_Email.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331201021/http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4223637/k.8840/Answering_Email.htm |archive-date=31 March 2009 }}</ref>{{sps|date=December 2022}}

Some individuals and groups, including [[Augustine of Hippo|St.&nbsp;Augustine]], [[John Chrysostom]], and [[John Calvin]], take the view of Genesis&nbsp;6:2 that the "Angels" who fathered the Nephilim referred to certain human males from the lineage of [[Seth]], who were called ''sons of God'' probably in reference to their prior [[Covenant (religion)|covenant]] with [[Yahweh]] (cf. {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|14:1|HE}}; {{bibleverse-nb||Deut|32:5|HE}}); according to these sources, these men had begun to pursue bodily interests, and so took wives of "the daughters of men", e.g., those who were descended from [[Cain]] or from any people who did not worship God.

This also is the view of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]],<ref>{{cite web |title=The 'Holy Angels{{'}} |publisher=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church |series=Sunday Schools Department |language=Amharic |url=http://www.mahiberekidusan.org/Default.aspx?tabid=98&ctl=Details&mid=371&ItemID=75 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727055448/http://www.mahiberekidusan.org/Default.aspx?tabid=98&ctl=Details&mid=371&ItemID=75 |archive-date=27 July 2011 }}</ref> supported by their own [[Ge'ez]] manuscripts and [[Amharic]] translation of the [[Bible translations (Amharic)|Haile Selassie Bible]]—where the books of [[1 Enoch]] and [[Jubilees]], counted as canonical by this church, differ from western academic editions.{{efn|
The Amharic text of Henok&nbsp;2:1–3 (i.e. 1&nbsp;En) in the 1962&nbsp;[[Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon|Ethiopian Orthodox Bible]] may be translated as follows:
: "After mankind abounded, it became thus: And in that season, handsome comely children were born to them; and the offspring of Seth, who were upon the Holy Mount, saw them and loved them. And they told one another, 'Come, let us choose for us daughters from Cain's children; let us bear children for us.{{'"}}
}} The "Sons of Seth view" is also the view presented in a few extra-biblical, yet ancient works, including [[Clementine literature]], the 3rd&nbsp;century ''[[Cave of Treasures]]'', and the {{circa|6th&nbsp;century}} [[Ge'ez]] work ''The [[Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan]]''. In these sources, these offspring of Seth were said to have disobeyed God, by breeding with the Cainites and producing wicked children "who were all unlike", thus angering God into bringing about the Deluge, as in the ''Conflict'':
{{quote|
Certain wise men of old wrote concerning them, and say in their [sacred] books that angels came down from heaven and mingled with the daughters of Cain, who bare unto them these giants. But these [wise men] err in what they say. God forbid such a thing, that angels who are spirits, should be found committing sin with human beings. Never, that cannot be. And if such a thing were of the nature of angels, or Satans, that fell, they would not leave one woman on earth, undefiled ... But many men say, that angels came down from heaven, and joined themselves to women, and had children by them. This cannot be true. But they were children of Seth, who were of the children of Adam, that dwelt on the mountain, high up, while they preserved their virginity, their innocence and their glory like angels; and were then called 'angels of God'. But when they transgressed and mingled with the children of Cain, and begat children, ill-informed men said, that angels had come down from heaven, and mingled with the daughters of men, who bear them giants.
}}