HistoricalChristian.Faith

The Septuagint (LXX) on the Nephilim

Dates: c. 250 BC Summary: The Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Torah made in Alexandria, traditionally c. 250 BC — is the earliest translational interpretation of Genesis 6 and the version the New Testament authors quote. It renders the Nephilim as gígantes ("giants"), the origin of the English word, and in a number of copies renders the sons of God as "angels of God" — so its translators read the passage as angelic beings and giants. This makes the LXX the earliest witness on the angelic side and, for Fr. Stephen De Young, the "first canonical witness" against the later Sethite reading.

Claims & evidence

The translators read "angels of God" and rendered the Nephilim "giants"

when they translated this passage, they translated 'the sons of God' as 'the angels of God,' and they translated 'nephilim' as 'giants.'

— Fr. Stephen De Young & Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick describing the LXX of Genesis 6:1–4, Lord of Spirits, "Land of Giants." The Greek gígantes (Gen 6:4) is uncontested; the "angels of God" rendering at Gen 6:2 is a manuscript reading (e.g. Codex Alexandrinus), the variant noted below by Augustine.

Corroboration from within the wiki: Augustine on the LXX text

The Septuagint indeed calls them both angels of God and sons of God, though all the copies do not show this, some having only the name sons of God.

— Augustine, The City of God XV.23, historicalchristian.faith. Even Augustine — who rejects the angelic reading — testifies that the Septuagint tradition contains the "angels of God" rendering, confirming that this was an ancient reading of the verse rather than a modern invention. See Augustine on the Nephilim.

Notes