In Genesis 6 who were the “giants” in the earth.

n Genesis 6:4, the KJV says:

Genesis 6:4 — “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.”

The safest answer is that the “giants” were literal giants—men of extraordinary physical size or stature. Scripture later uses the same English word unmistakably of unusually large men:

Numbers 13:33 — “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

So the Bible does not require us to interpret the giants as mythical creatures. They were real beings associated with the ancient world before the Flood, and giants also existed afterward.

A very important distinction should be made in Genesis 6:4. The verse says:

“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…”

It then says that the children born from those unions:

“became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

The KJV does not explicitly say, “the giants were the children of the sons of God and the daughters of men.” That conclusion is commonly inferred, but the wording should not be made stronger than Scripture itself. What Scripture explicitly states is:

• giants were in the earth,
• the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,
• children were born from those unions,
• and those children became “mighty men… men of renown.”

Who were the “sons of God”?

This is where Genesis 6 becomes more debated.

The exact expression “sons of God” is used elsewhere in the Old Testament of heavenly beings:

Job 1:6 — “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”

Job 2:1 — “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD…”

Job 38:7 — “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

For that reason, the angelic interpretation may be indicated by the KJV’s own usage of the expression “sons of God.” Under this view, Genesis 6 describes an extraordinary intrusion involving fallen heavenly beings and human women before the Flood.

However, Genesis 6 itself never directly says, “These sons of God were fallen angels.” That identification is therefore an inference drawn primarily from the usage in Job.

Another interpretation says the “sons of God” were godly descendants of Seth who intermarried with ungodly descendants of Cain. The difficulty with that position is that Genesis never explicitly calls Seth’s descendants “sons of God,” nor does it explicitly identify the “daughters of men” as Cain’s descendants.

Therefore, from a strict KJV textual standpoint, the angelic interpretation has stronger direct phraseological support from Job, but we should still distinguish that inference from what Genesis 6 states explicitly.

Were the giants half-human, half-angel beings?

Scripture does not explicitly say that.

Genesis 6:4 does not use terminology such as “half angel,” “hybrid,” or “demigod.” Those descriptions go beyond the actual wording of the KJV.

We can say with certainty that there were giants. We can say that the sons of God took daughters of men. We can say their offspring became “mighty men… men of renown.” But exactly how the giants relate biologically to those unions is not stated with enough precision to justify elaborate speculation.

“And also after that”

Genesis 6:4 is especially important because it says:

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that…”

Giants certainly appear after the Flood. For example, Scripture records:

Deuteronomy 3:11 — “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants…”

And Goliath was an enormous warrior:

1 Samuel 17:4 — “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”

Thus, whatever conclusion one reaches concerning Genesis 6, giants themselves were literal large men, not merely symbolic figures.

The main emphasis of Genesis 6

It is easy for discussion about the giants to overshadow what God emphasizes most strongly in the chapter:

Genesis 6:5 — “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

And:

Genesis 6:11 — “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”

The great doctrinal point of Genesis 6 is therefore not merely the existence of giants. It is the terrible corruption of mankind, God’s holy judgment through the Flood, and His grace toward Noah:

Genesis 6:8 — “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

Conclusion

The giants of Genesis 6 were literal giants. The KJV does not identify them as mythical beings. The phrase “sons of God” may indicate heavenly beings, especially when compared with Job 1:6, Job 2:1, and Job 38:7. However, Scripture does not explicitly state that the giants themselves were angel-human hybrids, so that claim should not be presented as certain biblical fact.

What God has clearly revealed should be affirmed; what He has not explicitly revealed should not become the foundation for speculation.