The sons of God in Genesis 6 and what the text actually identifies them as

The text

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4 KJV

The text distinguishes two groups: the bene ha-elohim (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים , “sons of God”) and the benot ha-adam (בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם , “daughters of men/humanity”). The contrast is categorical: one group belongs to the elohim class, the other to the adam class. If both groups were human, the distinction collapses.

Bene elohim in the Old Testament

The phrase bene elohim (with the definite article, בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים ) or the construct bene elim (בְּנֵי אֵלִים ) appears in the following passages:

In Job 38:7, the bene elohim are present at the creation of the earth, before any human exists. In Job 1:6 and 2:1, the bene elohim present themselves before YHWH in the divine council, and the satan (הַשָּׂטָן , “the adversary”) is among them. These are divine council gatherings.

The Hebrew term elohim (אֱלֹהִים ) itself refers to the divine realm in general, not exclusively to the God of Israel. The word is used for YHWH, for the members of the divine council (Psalm 82:1 , 82:6), for the spirit of Samuel (1 Samuel 28:13 ), and for the gods of the nations. “Sons of elohim” means beings who belong to the elohim class, the divine or spiritual category.

The three interpretations

The angelic interpretation

The sons of God are divine beings (angels or members of the divine council) who transgressed their proper boundary by taking human wives. This produces the Nephilim (נְפִלִים ), likely from naphal (נָפַל , “to fall”). The Septuagint renders this as γίγαντες (gigantes, “earth-born”), which in classical Greek refers to the offspring of heaven and earth, not simply to tall humans.

This was the unanimous reading in Judaism before the fifth century AD. It is the reading of 1 Enoch 6-11 (third century BC), Jubilees 5:1 (second century BC), Philo of Alexandria (On the Giants, first century AD), Josephus (Antiquities 1.73, first century AD), and the Genesis Apocryphon from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Sethite interpretation

The sons of God are the godly descendants of Seth. The daughters of men are the descendants of Cain. The sin is intermarriage between the two lines, resulting in moral corruption.

This view originated with Julius Africanus (third century) and was developed by Augustine of Hippo in City of God, Book XV, Chapter 23 (fifth century). Augustine’s influence in Western theology made it dominant in Roman Catholicism and later Protestantism.

Problems with this reading:

1. Bene elohim refers to divine beings in every other OT occurrence.
2. The text distinguishes bene ha-elohim from benot ha-adam. Seth’s sons and Cain’s daughters are equally human, which leaves the categorical contrast without a basis.
3. The offspring are the Nephilim, described as mighty men of renown. Intermarriage between two human lines leaves the extraordinary offspring unexplained.
4. No Second Temple Jewish source reads the passage this way.

The royal interpretation

The sons of God are ancient kings or rulers who exercised divine prerogative by taking multiple wives. This view connects to Ancient Near Eastern traditions where kings were called sons of the gods.

Problems with this reading:

1. Bene elohim designates divine council members throughout the OT. The Davidic king is called “son” of God in 2 Samuel 7:14 and Psalm 2:7 , but the phrasing is different (בֵּן , singular, in a covenant context, not בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים ).
2. Kings taking multiple wives is common throughout the Old Testament without triggering divine judgment of this scale.
3. The Nephilim remain unexplained on this reading.

The New Testament witness

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 6-7 KJV

The Greek arche (ἀρχή , “first estate, domain, proper beginning”) and oiketerion (οἰκητήριον , “habitation, dwelling”) describe angels who abandoned their assigned domain. “In like manner” (τὸν ὅμοιον τρόπον , ton homoion tropon) means the angels committed the same category of sin: sexual transgression across a boundary. “Strange flesh” (σαρκὸς ἑτέρας , sarkos heteras) means flesh of a different kind. For Sodom, this was angelic visitors. For the angels of Genesis 6, this was human women.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. 2 Peter 2:4-5 KJV

Peter places the sin of the angels immediately before the flood. The sequence is chronological: angels sinned, God imprisoned them, the flood followed. The Greek tartaroo (ταρταρόω , “to cast into Tartarus”) appears only here in the New Testament. Tartarus in Greek cosmology was the prison beneath Hades reserved for the Titans, the divine beings who transgressed against the Olympian order. Peter uses the term his Greek-reading audience would recognize for the imprisonment of divine beings who crossed a boundary.

1 Enoch and the Second Temple context

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them. 1 Enoch 6:1-2

1 Enoch 7:1-2 describes the result: the angels taught forbidden knowledge (metallurgy, cosmetics, enchantments, astrology) and their offspring, the giants, consumed the produce of the earth and then turned to consuming humans.

1 Enoch is not canonical Scripture. But it was widely read in Second Temple Judaism and is directly quoted by Jude (Jude 14-15 quotes 1 Enoch 1:9). Its interpretation of Genesis 6 represents the standard Jewish reading of the passage for centuries before Augustine proposed the Sethite alternative.

References

1. 1 Enoch, ch. 6-7 (3rd c. BC): angelic beings take human wives; offspring are giants who corrupt the earth.
2. Jubilees 5:1 (2nd c. BC): angelic interpretation of Genesis 6 in Second Temple Jewish literature.
3. Philo of Alexandria, On the Giants (1st c. AD): angelic reading of Genesis 6 in Hellenistic Jewish thought.
4. Josephus, Antiquities 1.73 (1st c. AD): angelic interpretation of Genesis 6.
5. Dead Sea Scrolls, Genesis Apocryphon: angelic interpretation of Genesis 6.
6. Julius Africanus (3rd c.): earliest known proponent of the Sethite interpretation.
7. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, Book XV, ch. 23 (5th c.): Sethite interpretation established as dominant in Western theology.