Discovery BoxGenesis 1:30 
Context1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give 1 every green plant for food.” It was so.
Genesis 6:4
Context6:4 The Nephilim 2 were on the earth in those days (and also after this) 3 when the sons of God were having sexual relations with 4 the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. 5 They were the mighty heroes 6 of old, the famous men. 7
Genesis 6:7
Context6:7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, 8 including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”
Genesis 7:23
Context7:23 So the Lord 9 destroyed 10 every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. 11 They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. 12
Genesis 8:9
Context8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered 13 the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah 14 in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, 15 and brought it back into the ark. 16
Genesis 8:13
Context8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, 17 in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that 18 the surface of the ground was dry.
Genesis 11:4
Context11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens 19 so that 20 we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise 21 we will be scattered 22 across the face of the entire earth.”
Genesis 18:25
Context18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge 23 of the whole earth do what is right?” 24
Genesis 24:3
Context24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise 25 by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire 26 a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.
Genesis 26:4
Context26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them 27 all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. 28
1 tn The phrase “I give” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
2 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”).
3 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.
4 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.
5 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 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.
7 tn Heb “men of name” (i.e., famous men).
8 tn The text simply has “from man to beast, to creatures, and to birds of the air.” The use of the prepositions עַד…מִן (min...’ad) stresses the extent of the judgment in creation.
9 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
10 tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).
11 tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”
12 tn The Hebrew verb שָׁאָר (sha’ar) means “to be left over; to survive” in the Niphal verb stem. It is the word used in later biblical texts for the remnant that escapes judgment. See G. F. Hasel, “Semantic Values of Derivatives of the Hebrew Root só’r,” AUSS 11 (1973): 152-69.
13 tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”
17 tn Heb In the six hundred and first year.” Since this refers to the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the word “Noah’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “and saw and look.” As in v. 11, the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the dry ground with their own eyes.
19 tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.
20 tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.
21 tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”
22 sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.
23 tn Or “ruler.”
24 sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.
25 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.
26 tn Heb “because you must not take.”
27 tn Heb “your descendants.”
28 tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 22:18). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)
