H5303 H5303
Nephilim, giants; antediluvian and Canaanite beings of extraordinary size
This enigmatic plural noun designates the 'giants' who appear both before the Flood (Genesis 6:4) and in Canaan during Israel's wilderness wanderings (Numbers 13:33, twice). The etymology is uncertain—possibly from a root meaning 'to fall' (fallen ones? those who make others fall?). Ancient translators used 'giants' (Greek gigantes, Latin), while modern interpreters debate whether this denotes physical stature, violent character, or semi-divine origins. In Numbers, the terrified spies report seeing Nephilim descendants among the Anakim, using the giants as the ultimate symbol of Canaan's impregnability.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Genesis places the Nephilim in the era when 'sons of God' took human wives, resulting in offspring who were 'mighty men of old, men of renown'—a shadowy reference suggesting abnormal origin and power. Numbers twice mentions them: first as the feared inhabitants of Canaan, then identifying the Anakim as Nephilim descendants. The spies' terror ('we seemed like grasshoppers') shows how Nephilim functioned as the archetypal threat. Cross-linguistic consistency (Nephilim, nefilim, Riesen) reflects both transliteration of the Hebrew and conceptual agreement about their giant stature. 3×
AR["النَّفِيلِيمَ", "النَّفِيلِيمُ"]·ben["-নেফিলীমদের", "সেই-নেফিলিমরা"]·DE["der-Nephilim", "die-Riesen"]·EN["the-Nephilim"]·FR["le-Nephilim"]·heb["ה-נפילים", "ה-נפלים"]·HI["नफ़ीलीमों", "नेफलीम"]·ID["Nefilim", "Raksasa-raksasa", "raksasa-Nefilim"]·IT["il-Nephilim"]·jav["ing-raksasa", "para-Néfilim"]·KO["그-네필림들-이", "네피림", "네피림을"]·PT["Os-nefilins", "os-Nefilim"]·RU["исполинов", "исполины"]·ES["Los-nefilim", "los-nefilim"]·SW["Wanefili"]·TR["Nefilim", "Nefilimler'den", "Nefilimler'i"]·urd["نفلیم", "نفیلیم"]
Related Senses
H0376 1. man, person, human male (2130×)H0251 1. brother (blood sibling) (573×)H0120 1. man, human being (individual/generic) (527×)H0802 1. woman, female person (519×)H0802 2. wife, spouse (255×)H0517 1. mother, female parent (217×)G0435 1. man, male person (202×)G1135 1. woman, adult female (190×)H2233 1. offspring, descendants (172×)H0001 2. ancestor, forefather (146×)H5288 1. Youth, young man (122×)H0269 1. sister (female sibling) (113×)H1755 1. generation, contemporaries (96×)G5043 1. child, offspring (89×)G0444 2. people, humankind (86×)H3206 1. child, boy, youth (86×)H2145 1. male (human being) (79×)G3384 1. mother (77×)H6485a 1. Qal passive participle: numbered ones, enrollment (76×)H1397 1. man (strong/mighty) (65×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† נְפִלִים n.m.pl. giants, according to 𝔊 γίγαντες, so 𝔖𝔙; הַנְּפִלִים Gn 6:4 (J), הַנְּפִילִים בְּנֵי עֲנָק מִן־הַנְּפִלִים Nu 13:33 (JE); 𝔊 om. בְּנֵי וגו׳, and so Di; these words perhaps doublet, but already in Sam., also 𝔙 (etym. dub.; cf. Aramaic נִיפְלָא, נְפִיּלָא Orion; conject. v. in Thes Di ad loc.; Tuch Kn Len Or. i, 344, Eng. Tr. 345 f.; Che Hbr. iii (1887), 175, 176; all very precarious).