Nephilim

Nephilim (Hebrew, variously translated "giants" or left untranslated) are mentioned in two passages: Genesis 6:4, where they appear on the earth "when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man," and Numbers 13:33, where the Israelite spies report seeing the descendants of Anak who "seemed to us like grasshoppers" — and call them Nephilim. The identity and nature of the Nephilim is among the most debated questions in biblical interpretation. Some read "sons of God" as fallen angels, others as the Sethite righteous line or as kings claiming divine prerogative. The Septuagint and later tradition translated them as "giants" (gigantes). Whatever their nature, the passage in Genesis presents them as part of the context of human wickedness that prompted the flood.