Entertainment / Literature / Nephilim: In ancient Hebrew tradition, the Nephilim (singular Naphil) were a race of giants referred to in Genesis 6:4 (Now giants were upon the earth in those days') and in Numbers 13:33 (We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.') In Genesis, they are called the children of the sons of God and human women, and they are referred to as 'heroes of old' and 'men of renown.' The text of Numbers describes them as a race of giants that once inhabited Canaan, so these Nephilim were thought to live at the time of Moses, which contrasts with the Genesis text in which the deluge exterminates the entire race of Nephilim. Biblical scholars think that the clash between the two texts is the result of a dual oral tradition--though at least one Hebrew legend describes a Naphil surviving the Biblical deluge by virtue of being so tall his head remained above the water. The Nephilim seem to be related to the Rephaim (Numbers 13:33 and Deuteronomy 2:11). In later times, medieval tradition often much more closely linked the 'sons of God' appearing in Genesis and Job and the race of Anak mentioned in Numbers. Cf. Rephaim. (probably derived from Hebrew napal, 'to fall')
Search Google for Nephilim: