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Who were the Nephilim in Genesis 6?

Contested

Texts of equal or higher authority genuinely pull both ways, and SAM names both sides.

The text identifies the Nephilim as mighty, renowned figures on the earth connected to the "sons of God" episode, but their precise nature, whether offspring of fallen angels and human women, or a pre-existing race of large warriors, is genuinely contested by the text itself, with same-level evidence pulling both ways.

Genesis 6:4 (narrator) states the Nephilim existed and links them to the "sons of God" union, but the grammar does not clearly make them the offspring. God's own speech in Job 38:7 uses the same phrase "sons of God" for pre-creation heavenly beings, supporting a non-human reading of the fathers. Jude 1:6 and 2 Peter 2:4 describe imprisoned angels who sinned in the flood context, but neither names the Nephilim. Numbers 13:33 uses the term for large Canaanite warriors, but comes from the mouths of the fearful spies in what the narrator calls an "evil report."

The unresolved tension: The text does not state whether the "sons of God" in Genesis 6:2 are angels or human rulers, does not explicitly identify the Nephilim as the offspring of that union (the grammar permits them to be a pre-existing group), and does not explain how Nephilim-like figures appear in Canaan after the flood if all flesh perished in it.

Key texts:
Genesis 6:1-4Tier 5 · Other
“When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives…”
Genesis 6:1-4Tier 5 · Other
“And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wi…”
Genesis 6:4Tier 5 · Other
“הַנְּפִלִ֞ים הָי֣וּ בָאָרֶץ֮ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵם֒ וְגַ֣ם אַֽחֲרֵי־ כֵ֗ן אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָבֹ֜אוּ בְּנֵ֤י הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־ בְּנ֣וֹת הָֽאָדָ֔ם וְיָלְד֖וּ לָהֶ֑ם הֵ֧מָּה הַגִּבֹּרִ֛ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר מֵעוֹלָ֖ם אַנְשֵׁ֥י …”

…and 12 more verses weighed in the full analysis.

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