Nephilim

The “fallen ones” — giants born from the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men.

The word comes from the Hebrew root nafal, “to fall”. Genesis 6 presents them as the mighty men of old, men of renown, born when “the sons of God” came to the daughters of men. The Book of Enoch expands the episode: the Watchers descend upon Mount Hermon, and their offspring bring violence to the earth — the reason given for the Flood. Numbers 13 uses the term again, in the report of the spies returning from Canaan saying they had seen giants.