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.

Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 6:4

Targum

And the Lord said by His Word, All the generations of the wicked which are to arise shall not be purged after the order of the judgments of the generation of the deluge, which shall be destroyed and exterminated from the midst of the world. Have I not imparted My Holy Spirit to them, (or, placed My Holy Spirit in them,) that they may work good works? And, behold, their works are wicked. Behold, I will give them a prolongment of a hundred and twenty years, that they may work repentance, and not perish. Schamchazai and Uzziel, who fell from heaven, were on the earth in those days; and also, after the sons of the Great had gone in with the daughters of men, they bare to them: and these are they who are called men who are of the world, men of names. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and all the imagery of the thought of his heart was only evil every day.

 Notes and 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’ ..."

Reid, Philip Mark A Preliminary Investigation into the Samaritan Pentateuch as an Intralingual Translation (pp. 90-01) University of the Free State South Africa, 2021

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