Genesis 6:4-5

6:4 The Nephilim ¹  were on the earth in those days (and also after this) ²  when the sons of God were having sexual relations with ³  the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. ⁴  They were the mighty heroes ⁵  of old, the famous men. ⁶ 

6:5 But the Lord saw ⁷  that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination ⁸  of the thoughts ⁹  of their minds ¹⁰  was only evil ¹¹  all the time. ¹² 

Genesis 7:1

7:1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation. ¹³ 

Genesis 7:21

7:21 And all living things ¹⁴  that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind.

Genesis 9:12

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ¹⁵  of the covenant I am making ¹⁶  with you ¹⁷  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹⁸  for all subsequent ¹⁹  generations:

Genesis 9:16-17

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ²⁰  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ²¹  that are on the earth.”

Job 22:15-17

22:15 Will you keep to the old path ²² 

that evil men have walked –

22:16 men ²³  who were carried off ²⁴  before their time, ²⁵ 

when the flood ²⁶  was poured out ²⁷ 

on their foundations? ²⁸ 

22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ ²⁹ 

Luke 3:6

3:6 and all humanity ³⁰  will see the salvation of God.’” ³¹ 

Luke 3:1

The Ministry of John the Baptist

3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ³²  when Pontius Pilate ³³  was governor of Judea, and Herod ³⁴  was tetrarch ³⁵  of Galilee, and his brother Philip ³⁶  was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ³⁷  was tetrarch of Abilene,

Luke 3:19-20

3:19 But when John rebuked Herod ³⁸  the tetrarch ³⁹  because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, ⁴⁰  and because of all the evil deeds ⁴¹  that he had done, 3:20 Herod added this to them all: He locked up John in prison.

Luke 3:2

3:2 during the high priesthood ⁴²  of Annas and Caiaphas, the word ⁴³  of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ⁴⁴ 

Luke 2:5

2:5 He went ⁴⁵  to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, ⁴⁶  and who was expecting a child.

[6:4]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word נְפִילִים (nÿfilim) is simply transliterated here, because the meaning of the term is uncertain. According to the text, the Nephilim became mighty warriors and gained great fame in the antediluvian world. The text may imply they were the offspring of the sexual union of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of humankind” (v. 2), but it stops short of saying this in a direct manner. The Nephilim are mentioned in the OT only here and in Num 13:33, where it is stated that they were giants (thus KJV, TEV, NLT “giants” here). The narrator observes that the Anakites of Canaan were descendants of the Nephilim. Certainly these later Anakite Nephilim could not be descendants of the antediluvian Nephilim (see also the following note on the word “this”).

[6:4]  ² tn This observation is parenthetical, explaining that there were Nephilim even after the flood. If all humankind, with the exception of Noah and his family, died in the flood, it is difficult to understand how the postdiluvian Nephilim could be related to the antediluvian Nephilim or how the Anakites of Canaan could be their descendants (see Num 13:33). It is likely that the term Nephilim refers generally to “giants” (see HALOT 709 s.v. נְפִילִים) without implying any ethnic connection between the antediluvian and postdiluvian varieties.

[6:4]  ³ tn Heb “were entering to,” referring euphemistically to sexual intercourse here. The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the ongoing nature of such sexual unions during the time before the flood.

[6:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they gave birth to them.” The masculine plural suffix “them” refers to the “sons of God,” to whom the “daughters of humankind” bore children. After the Qal form of the verb יָלָד (yalad, “to give birth”) the preposition לְ (lÿ, “to”) introduces the father of the child(ren). See Gen 16:1, 15; 17:19, 21; 21:2-3, 9; 22:23; 24:24, 47; 25:2, etc.

[6:4]  ⁵ tn The parenthetical/explanatory clause uses the word הַגִּבֹּרִים (haggibborim) to describe these Nephilim. The word means “warriors; mighty men; heroes.” The appositional statement further explains that they were “men of renown.” The text refers to superhuman beings who held the world in their power and who lived on in ancient lore outside the Bible. See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 45-46; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:379-80; and Anne D. Kilmer, “The Mesopotamian Counterparts of the Biblical Nephilim,” Perspectives on Language and Text, 39-43.

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “men of name” (i.e., famous men).

[6:5]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew verb translated “saw” (רָאָה, ra’ah), used here of God’s evaluation of humankind’s evil deeds, contrasts with God’s evaluation of creative work in Gen 1, when he observed that everything was good.

[6:5]  ⁸ tn The noun יֵצֶר (yetser) is related to the verb יָצָר (yatsar, “to form, to fashion [with a design]”). Here it refers to human plans or intentions (see Gen 8:21; 1 Chr 28:9; 29:18). People had taken their God-given capacities and used them to devise evil. The word יֵצֶר (yetser) became a significant theological term in Rabbinic literature for what might be called the sin nature – the evil inclination (see also R. E. Murphy, “Yeser in the Qumran Literature,” Bib 39 [1958]: 334-44).

[6:5]  ⁹ tn The related verb הָשָׁב (hashav) means “to think, to devise, to reckon.” The noun (here) refers to thoughts or considerations.

[6:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his heart” (referring to collective “humankind”). The Hebrew term לֵב (lev, “heart”) frequently refers to the seat of one’s thoughts (see BDB 524 s.v. לֵב). In contemporary English this is typically referred to as the “mind.”

[6:5]  ¹¹ sn Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil. There is hardly a stronger statement of the wickedness of the human race than this. Here is the result of falling into the “knowledge of good and evil”: Evil becomes dominant, and the good is ruined by the evil.

[6:5]  ¹² tn Heb “all the day.”

[7:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “for you I see [as] godly before me in this generation.” The direct object (“you”) is placed first in the clause to give it prominence. The verb “to see” here signifies God’s evaluative discernment.

[7:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “flesh.”

[9:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ²⁶ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ²⁸ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:16]  ³¹ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ³⁷ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[22:15]  ⁴³ tn The “old path” here is the way of defiance to God. The text in these two verses is no doubt making reference to the flood in Genesis, one of the perennial examples of divine judgment.

[22:16]  ⁴⁹ tn The word “men” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the relative pronoun “who.”

[22:16]  ⁵⁰ tn The verb קָמַט (qamat) basically means “to seize; to tie together to make a bundle.” So the Pual will mean “to be bundled away; to be carried off.”

[22:16]  ⁵¹ tn The clause has “and [it was] not the time.” It may be used adverbially here.

[22:16]  ⁵² tn The word is נָהַר (nahar, “river” or “current”); it is taken here in its broadest sense of the waters on the earth that formed the current of the flood (Gen 7:6, 10).

[22:16]  ⁵³ tn The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out; to shed; to spill; to flow.” The Pual means “to be poured out” (as in Lev 21:10 and Ps 45:3).

[22:16]  ⁵⁴ tn This word is then to be taken as an adverbial accusative of place. Another way to look at this verse is what A. B. Davidson (Job, 165) proposes “whose foundation was poured away and became a flood.” This would mean that that on which they stood sank away.

[22:17]  ⁵⁵ tn The form in the text is “to them.” The LXX and the Syriac versions have “to us.”

[3:6]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “all flesh.”

[3:6]  ⁶² sn A quotation from Isa 40:3-5. Though all the synoptic gospels use this citation from Isaiah, only Luke cites the material of vv. 5-6. His goal may well be to get to the declaration of v. 6, where all humanity (i.e., all nations) see God’s salvation (see also Luke 24:47).

[3:1]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “Emperor Tiberius” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[3:1]  ⁶⁸ sn The rule of Pontius Pilate is also described by Josephus, J. W. 2.9.2-4 (2.169-177) and Ant. 18.3.1 (18.55-59).

[3:1]  ⁶⁹ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He ruled from 4 b.c.-a.d. 39, sharing the rule of his father’s realm with his two brothers. One brother, Archelaus (Matt 2:22) was banished in a.d. 6 and died in a.d. 18; the other brother, Herod Philip (mentioned next) died in a.d. 34.

[3:1]  ⁷⁰ sn A tetrarch was a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king, who ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. Several times in the NT, Herod tetrarch of Galilee is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage.

[3:1]  ⁷¹ sn Philip refers to Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great and brother of Herod Antipas. Philip ruled as tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis from 4 b.c.-a.d. 34.

[3:1]  ⁷² sn Nothing else is known about Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.

[3:19]  ⁷³ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas. See the note on Herod Antipas in 3:1.

[3:19]  ⁷⁴ sn See the note on tetrarch in 3:1.

[3:19]  ⁷⁵ tc Several mss (A C K W Ψ 33 565 579 1424 2542 al bo) read τῆς γυναικὸς Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ (th" gunaiko" Filippou tou adelfou autou, “the wife of his brother Philip”), specifying whose wife Herodias was. The addition of “Philip,” however, is an assimilation to Matt 14:3 and is lacking in the better witnesses.

[3:19]  ⁷⁶ tn Or “immoralities.”

[3:2]  ⁷⁹ sn Use of the singular high priesthood to mention two figures is unusual but accurate, since Annas was the key priest from a.d. 6-15 and then his relatives were chosen for many of the next several years. After two brief tenures by others, his son-in-law Caiaphas came to power and stayed there until a.d. 36.

[3:2]  ⁸⁰ tn The term translated “word” here is not λόγος (logos) but ῥῆμα (rJhma), and thus could refer to the call of the Lord to John to begin ministry.

[3:2]  ⁸¹ tn Or “desert.”

[2:5]  ⁸⁵ tn The words “He went” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to begin a new sentence in the translation. The Greek sentence is longer and more complex than normal contemporary English usage.

[2:5]  ⁸⁶ tn Traditionally, “Mary, his betrothed.” Although often rendered in contemporary English as “Mary, who was engaged to him,” this may give the modern reader a wrong impression, since Jewish marriages in this period were typically arranged marriages. The term ἐμνηστευμένῃ (emnhsteumenh) may suggest that the marriage is not yet consummated, not necessarily that they are not currently married. Some mss read “the betrothed to him wife”; others, simply “his wife.” These readings, though probably not original, may give the right sense.