Chapter 6

Origin of the Nephilim.^{[a] 1} When human beings began to grow numerous on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God^[b] saw how beautiful the daughters of human beings were, and so they took for their wives whomever they pleased.^{(A) 3} Then the Lord said: My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh. Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.

⁴ The Nephilim appeared on earth in those days, as well as later,^[c] after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of human beings, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.^(B)

¹⁰ (Formerly the Emim lived there, a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakim;^(A)

²¹ a people great and numerous and as tall as the Anakim. But these, too, the Lord cleared out of the way for the Ammonites, so that they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place.^(A)

¹⁶ Dadu, a descendant of the Rephaim, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels, was about to take him captive. Dadu was girt with a new sword and thought he would kill David, ¹⁷ but Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to help him, and struck and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must not go out to battle with us again, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”^(A)

^18 (B)After this, there was another battle with the Philistines, in Gob. On that occasion Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, a descendant of the Rephaim.^{(C) 19 (D)}There was another battle with the Philistines, in Gob, and Elhanan, son of Jair from Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰ There was another battle, at Gath, and there was a giant, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Rephaim. ²¹ And when he insulted Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimei, struck him down.^{(E) 22} These four were descended from the Rephaim in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his servants.

Victories over the Philistines. ^4 (A)Afterward there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time, Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued.^(B)

⁵ There was another battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath^[a] of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam.^(C)

⁶ There was another battle, at Gath, and there was a giant, who had six fingers to each hand and six toes to each foot; twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Rephaim. ⁷ He defied Israel, and Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David’s brother, slew him. ⁸ These were the descendants of the Rephaim of Gath who died at the hands of David and his servants.