Genesis 6:4

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 

Genesis 25:27

25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled ⁷  hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. ⁸ 

Genesis 27:30

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ⁹  his father’s ¹⁰  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ¹¹ 

Genesis 27:30

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ¹²  his father’s ¹³  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 16:16

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹⁵  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ¹⁶ 

Ezekiel 13:18

13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹⁷  on all their wrists ¹⁸  and make headbands ¹⁹  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ²⁰  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

Micah 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ²¹  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ²² 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ²³ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ²⁴ 

[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).

[25:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “knowing.”

[25:27]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause juxtaposes Jacob with Esau and draws attention to the striking contrasts. In contrast to Esau, a man of the field, Jacob was civilized, as the phrase “living in tents” signifies. Whereas Esau was a skillful hunter, Jacob was calm and even-tempered (תָּם, tam), which normally has the idea of “blameless.”

[27:30]  ⁹ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.

[27:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was

[27:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”

[27:30]  ¹² tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.

[27:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was

[27:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift which might create confusion.

[16:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Behold I am about to send for many fishermen and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”

[13:18]  ¹⁷ sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.

[13:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.

[13:18]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term occurs in the Bible only here and in v. 21. It has also been understood as a veil or type of head covering. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:414) suggests that given the context of magical devices, the expected parallel to the magical arm bands, and the meaning of this Hebrew root (סָפַח [safakh, “to attach” or “join”]), it may refer to headbands or necklaces on which magical amulets were worn.

[13:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).

[7:2]  ²¹ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ²² tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ²³ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ²⁴ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.