Genesis 6:4

Berean Standard Bible · deep dive

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

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What it means

This verse is one of the strangest sentences in the Bible, and you should know that up front. It sits in the middle of Genesis 6's setup for the flood — a chapter showing you how badly things have gone since Eden, so bad that God will hit the reset button with water.

Look at what's plainly there. There were Nephilim on the earth. The text says they were around "in those days — and afterward as well." Then comes the union of "sons of God" with "daughters of men," and they (the women) bore children who became "mighty men of old, men of renown."

Now what's easy to miss: notice the text does not directly say the Nephilim are the children of these unions. The Nephilim are already on the scene; the unions happen; mighty children are born. Many readers blur these into one thing — but the Hebrew leaves them slightly separated.

Who are the "sons of God"? Christians have split on this for centuries, and you should know the two main reads:

1. The Sethite view: the godly line of Seth (Genesis 4–5) intermarrying with the wicked line of Cain. "Sons of God" = covenant people; "daughters of men" = those outside. The sin is spiritual compromise — believers marrying unbelievers. 2. The angelic view: fallen spiritual beings ("sons of God" is used this way in Job 1:6 and 2:1) crossing a boundary God set. Jude 1:6 and 2 Peter 2:4 seem to gesture back here. Jesus says in Matthew 22:30 that angels don't marry — which is the main objection to this view.

Either way, the point Moses is making is the same: humanity is spilling over its banks. Boundaries God set — between heaven and earth, between his people and the world — are being trampled. And the offspring are "mighty men of renown" — people who built a name for themselves. (Hold that thought; it shows up again at Babel in Genesis 11:4.)

Historical Context

Genesis was written down by Moses (the traditional view) somewhere around 1400 BC, though it preserves stories far older — passed down from the earliest days of humanity. Moses is writing for Israelites who have just been pulled out of Egypt and are heading toward Canaan, the promised land. They need to know who their God is, where the world came from, and why it's broken.

And here's the thing — when those Israelites later sent spies into Canaan, the spies came back terrified, reporting Nephilim in the land (Numbers 13:33). Same word. Same shudder. So Moses, in Genesis 6:4, is doing something pastoral as well as historical: he's telling his people, Yes, you've heard the name. Yes, giants like that have always been the enemies of God's order. And yes, God dealt with them before — he can deal with them again. Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:4 and Og of Bashan in Deuteronomy 3:11 (whose bed was over thirteen feet long!) sit in this same shadow.

The ancient world around Israel was full of stories about half-divine heroes — Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia, the demigods of later Greek myth. Everyone told tales of monster-kings and warlords whose fathers were gods. Moses tells a darker story. These "mighty men of renown" aren't celebrated. They're listed right before God says, "I'm sorry I made humanity" (Genesis 6:6). The pagan world worshiped the giant-heroes. Moses says they were a symptom of the disease.

This is the world the verse comes out of: a culture that admired tyrants and lionized strongmen, and a God who saw it for what it was — violence dressed up as glory.

Original Language

נְפִיל (nephilim, H5303) — the famous word. Its root likely connects to נָפַל (naphal), "to fall." So "fallen ones," or possibly "those who make others fall." Strong's defines it bluntly: a bully or tyrant. Not "hero." Not "demigod." A thug with size. This single word controls how you read the verse — these aren't admirable figures, they're terrors.

בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים (bene ha-elohim, "sons of H430") — elohim normally means "God" or "gods," and the phrase "sons of God" elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible (Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7) refers to heavenly beings. That's why the angelic reading has weight. But elohim can also mean rulers or those who bear God's image-authority — which gives the Sethite reading its footing.

גִּבֹּרִים (gibborim, H1368) — "mighty men." This word can mean a noble warrior (it's used of King David's elite soldiers) or a tyrant. Same root either way: raw power. Genesis 6:4 doesn't moralize the word; the surrounding verses (the earth "filled with violence," v. 11) do that work for you.

שֵׁם (shem) — "name" or "renown." These men made themselves a name. Tuck that away. Three chapters later, the builders of Babel say, "Let us make a name for ourselves" (Genesis 11:4). Same word, same disease.

How it points to Christ

This is a verse about power without God — humans (and maybe more than humans) reaching for greatness, building a name, breeding tyrants. The whole pre-flood world is one long cautionary tale: when creatures try to climb up into glory by force, God brings the flood.

Now look at Jesus. Paul says of him in Philippians 2:6–9 that he "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." The Nephilim and their fathers reached upward; Jesus, who actually was God, reached downward. They made a name for themselves by violence; therefore God exalted him and gave him the name above every name — and he got that name by dying. The Nephilim were "men of renown" who terrorized the earth. Jesus is the man of renown who was terrorized for the earth, and whose renown will fill it (Habakkuk 2:14).

There's another thread too. The flood that follows this passage is the great undoing — God washing the violence away. Jesus pointed back to those days in Matthew 24:37–39 ("as in the days of Noah") and said his return will be like that. Peter goes further: baptism is the new flood (1 Peter 3:20–21), and the water that drowned the old world saves you through union with Christ.

And if the angelic reading is right — if 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6 really do refer to this moment — then Colossians 2:15 lands with extra weight: at the cross, Jesus "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame." Whatever powers crossed those boundaries, he has them on a leash now.

You were never going to make a name worth keeping. He gives you his.

Application

You live in a culture that admires gibborim. Mighty men. Self-made names. Strongmen, founders, billionaires, influencers, the talented, the loud, the followed. You may not say it out loud, but some part of you wants to be one of them. To be known. To be a name. To matter.

Genesis 6:4 is showing you what that desire looks like in its purest form, and it's not pretty. It's the world right before God says he's sorry he made it. The "mighty men of renown" were not the apex of human achievement; they were the disease.

Here's what this verse asks of you: kill the appetite to build a name for yourself. Not the appetite for excellence — go ahead and work hard. But the appetite to be known, to be significant, to have your name on the lips of others. That's an old hunger, and it has never produced anything but tyrants and Babels and broken people.

What does that cost? It might cost you the social-media performance. It might cost the constant low-grade scheming about how to be seen at work, in your church, in your circle. It might cost the fantasy you nurse in the shower about finally being recognized. It might cost the comparison you do every time someone you know gets promoted, published, praised.

You already have a name. It was given to you in baptism. It was written in a book in heaven by someone whose name is above every name, who got that name by going down, not up.

Stop climbing. Come down. There's more renown in being known by him than in being known by everyone else.

Prayer Points

Reflections

Sources

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