Go to Related Reading
About this book

LXX Genesis

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 6

1 And it happened when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the [angels] of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose.⁠ 3 And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh,⁠ but their days shall be one hundred and twenty years. 4 Now the giants were upon the earth in those days;⁠ and after that when the sons of God used to go in to the daughters of men, they bore children to them,⁠ those were the giants of old, the men of renown. 5 And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart was intently brooding over evil continually, 6 then God laid it to heart that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply.⁠ 7 And God said, I will blot out man whom I have made from the face of the earth, even man with cattle, and reptiles with flying creatures of the sky, for I am angry that I have made them.⁠ 8 But Noah found grace before the Lord God. 9 And these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man; being perfect in his generation, Noah was well-pleasing to God. 10 And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth. 11 But the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with iniquity. 12 And the Lord God saw the earth, and it was corrupted; because all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, A period of all men has come before me; because the earth has been filled with iniquity by them, and, look, I destroy them and the earth. 14 Make therefore for yourself an ark of square timber; you shall make the ark in compartments, and you shall pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And thus you will make the ark; three hundred cubits the length of the ark, and fifty cubits the breadth, and thirty cubits the height of it. 16 You shall narrow the ark in making it, and in a cubit above you shall finish it, and the door of the ark you shall make on the side; with lower, second, and third stories you shall make it. 17 And look, I bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven, and whatever things are upon the earth shall die. 18 And I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of all cattle and of all reptiles and of all wild beasts, even of all flesh, you shall bring by pairs of all, into the ark, that you may feed them with yourself: male and female they shall be. 20 Of all winged birds after their kind, and of all cattle after their kind, and of all reptiles creeping upon the earth after their kind, pairs of all shall come in to you, male and female to be fed with you. 21 And you shall take to yourself of all kinds of food which you eat, and you shall gather them to yourself, and it shall be for you and them to eat. 22 And Noah did all things whatever the Lord God commanded him, so he did.

Texts in conversation

How the Septuagint Calls the Nephilim Giants in Genesis 6

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

Share:

Summary

In Genesis 6, the Greek Septuagint translation renders Nephilim as giants, and some of its manuscripts call the sons of God angels, showing how it follows a supernatural interpretation of this difficult-to-interpret story.

Passages

Genesis 6:4

Hebrew Bible
2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 6:4

Septuagint
2 that the [angels] of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be one hundred and twenty years. 4 Now the giants were upon the earth in those days; and after that when the sons of God used to go in to the daughters of men, they bore children to them, those were the giants of old, the men of renown. 5 And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart was intently brooding over evil continually, 6 then God laid it to heart that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

References

"... To Himbaza, the reason for the change in this verse was not a defense of monotheism but rather its use of the term ‘angels of God’. The problem with this term stems from the interpretation of Genesis 6, Exodus 21:6 and 22:7. In Genesis 6:1-4, a notoriously difficult passage, 'the sons of God' lie with 'the daughters of men' resulting in 'the Nephilim', a race of giants. While the LXX translates this literally, 'the sons of God', the Targums here interpret this as ‘the sons of the great’ ..."
Philip Mark Reid, “A Preliminary Investigation into the Samaritan Pentateuch as an Intralingual Translation” (MA diss., University of the Free State, 2021), 90–01.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Comments

  • Keep up the good work!

    S.E., September 16, 2026

Genesis 6:4 and LXX Genesis 6:4

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library