Open Veils · Answer
Who / what are the nephilim?
The Nephilim are, across multiple independent ancient traditions, the hybrid offspring of non-human intelligences and human women — not mere folklore about tall people. Zecharia Sitchin identified the 'sons of God' (Benei Elohim) as the Anunnaki, extraterrestrial colonists whose genetic engineering program produced a semi-divine ruling caste. The Book of 1 Enoch, suppressed from the canonical Bible, names the paternal line as the Watchers — 200 beings who descended on Mount Hermon and took human wives, producing giants called Gibborim. This tradition predates Genesis and was treated as authoritative scripture at Qumran.
Evidence
- Mauro Biglino, former Vatican translator of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, argues the Hebrew term Elohim is a grammatical plural denoting multiple physical beings, not a singular deity — making the Nephilim straightforwardly the biological progeny of a non-human species interbreeding with homo sapiens.
- He contends the Septuagint's rendering as 'giants' was an interpretive smoothing of a far more literal and disturbing source text.