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Explore Matthew Neujahr’s test for Babylonian influence on early Jewish apocalypses, Genesis 6, 1 Enoch, and technical scribal lore.

Explore Seth Sanders’s case that Aramaic scribal culture, not simple borrowing, shaped Second Temple Jewish texts like Enoch and Aramaic Levi.

Rivka Nir argues that the Watchers introduced corrupt sexual desire. This review tests her case across 1 Enoch, Qumran, and the New Testament.

When did the Sethite reading of Genesis 6 emerge? Doedens traces its earliest evidence through Julius Africanus, Syriac writers, and Athanasius.

Cory Anderson argues Jude likely viewed 1 Enoch as inspired and authoritative, reading it eschatologically and christologically.

Amar Annus argues that Jewish writers reshaped Mesopotamian apkallu traditions into the Watchers story of rebellious heavenly teachers and forbidden knowledge. Here is what the comparison can—and cannot—show about Genesis 6 and 1 Enoch.

Could Goliath’s height have resulted from inherited pituitary gigantism? A careful review of Donnelly and Morrison’s AIP gene hypothesis.

The article “Who Are the Sons of God? A Literary-Contextual Approach to Gen 6:1–4” argues that the בני־האלהים, the “sons of God,” are best understood not as fallen angels, Watchers, or sacral kings, but as once-righteous human descendants of Adam through Seth who corrupted themselves by marrying the “daughters of men.” On this reading, Genesis 6:1–4 is a human collapse story: the Sethite line abandons its calling, ordinary marriages become spiritually disastrous, and the resulting wickedness prepares the flood. The question is whether Genesis 4–6 itself can bear that conclusion strongly enough to outweigh the older and still powerful angelic reading.

“He did not forgive the ancient giants, who revolted in their might” (16:7 NSRV).

The booklet’s earliest chapters, 1 Enoch 6–11, contain the story of the fall of the heavenly watchers – a narrative generally understood as commenting on Gen 6:1–4.

The statements of Gen 6:1–4 are in some ways identical with that of the Shemiḥazah story. This is evident, for example, with regard to the sons of God (בני האלהים) and human women: “When humankind began to increase on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of the gods saw how beautiful human women were, and took for themselves such as pleased them” (vv. 1–2). Two important elements are missing from this text when compared to Watchers: first, the description of the sons of God as watchers, and secondly the ethical evaluation of their deed.

Throughout his research, Antley highlights significant excerpts that provide invaluable insights into the complexities of Tartarus. One, the myth of the fallen watchers originating from Genesis 6:1-2,4, plays a crucial role in shaping the concept of Tartarus in later traditions. Second Temple Jews understood the "sons of God'' to be angels, evidenced in some LXX translations and other Jewish writings. However, the Genesis account does not mention the angels' punishment or allude to Tartarus in any way. Rather, it exists merely as the setting from which the expanded myth, which included Tartarus, would derive from.

One can reasonably understand the Enochic Book of the Watchersas engaging in a kind of monstrous exegesis. The scribal intellectuals who produced the work in the third century BCE reconfigured older textual traditions regarding the flood in a way that made the sons of the angels much more monstrous. The composition reinvents the gibbōrîmfrom legendary warriors intocannibalistic giants. As I have tried to show, this development is not simply an exegetical issue. I have also attempted to demonstrate that this transformation is intelligible in the Hellenistic context in which thebook was written. The field of monster studies helps us understand the giants’ anthropophagous rampages as not only acts of profound violence but also a way to delineate social norms and conduct, especially regarding food, by putting forward disturbing portrayals of life on earth before such norms were in effect. The heightened monstrosity of the Book of the Watchers, discernible when compared to older Genesis traditions, becomes intelligible in the context of a climate of cultural anxiety and epistemological uncertainty that was pervasive in the early Hellenistic period. It is a valuable exercise to engage ancient Jewish literature through the lens of monster theory.

Earlier doubts concerning Jude were due almost entirely to nonuniversal attestation, despite its early and increasing use through the second to fourth centuries. This study has sought to demonstrate that – as far as can be discerned from extant sources – these two causes of doubt are separate issues, that up until the early fourth century there is no evidence of Jude’s citation of an apocryphal text being seen as a ‘problem’ by its readers. It is only in the mid- to late-fourth century that writers such as Didymus and Jerome, who themselves accept Jude’s authority, apparently identify fourth-century doubts about Jude with second- and third-century doubts, thereby conflating and masking the differences between distinct causes for these doubts (citation of apocryphal literature versus non-universal attestation). Significantly, this development coincided with that of the canon, which as it grew more defined clearly excluded 1 Enoch, and included Jude.

Jude cites Enoch—but does that canonize the book? Manuscript evidence, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Jude’s own structure show otherwise. Learn why quotation ≠ canon.

“The purpose of this article is, with reference to Gen. 6:1-4, to describe this diversity among the early Jewish apocalyptic writings and to consider what was at stake among those who read the biblical tradition as an account relating to the introduction of evil into the world.
In order to achieve this aim, I shall first briefly discuss the biblical texts, and then proceed to describe the role of "giants" in some of the euhemeristic sources, followed by a discussion of apocalyptic traditions which may in some measure be understood as a response to these sources.”

The Nephilim figure prominently in some popular literature. Their portrayal is speculative, but also based on Second Temple texts, which portray the Nephilim as the giant offspring of angels and human women who were responsible for the corruption that resulted in the flood. This article argues that the Nephilim in the OT are associated, primarily, with the antediluvian era; though are, intentially, linked with postdiluvian ‘heroes’ to highlight the perversity of the pre-flood generation, who, in seeking liaisons with heavenly beings, seek to overcome their mortality.

In this research paper, Drawnel focuses on the punishment of Asael, a fallen angel mentioned in the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 10:4-8). Drawing from his expertise in Qumran studies, Drawnel investigates the possible influence of Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft literature on the portrayal of Asael's punishment. He explores how the Book of Enoch employs Mesopotamian conceptions of witchcraft to convey a cautionary message about the dangers associated with it.

“All the views evaluated in this paper (at least in the versions presented) are resistant to the notion of Genesis 6 being adapted myth. They make no room for Scripture’s alleged acquiescence to the prevailing pagan ideas of its day.”

This essay examines Nahmanides’s interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4, a perplexing yet enticing biblical passage that tells of the union between benei ha-elohim, the sons of God, and benot ha-adam, daughters of men, and of their offspring, a passage that engendered highly creative com-mentary among commentators in late antiquity. Caputo focuses on this biblical passage because Nahmanides’s commentary allows a glimpse of his conception to human physicality, historical change, and, she will argue, a subtle revision of the classic Christian understanding of the fall and human morality as well as a corrective to the dominant mode of Jewish interpretation.

In "The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1–4," Jaap Doedens presents a scholarly and comprehensive exploration of the enigmatic text regarding the 'sons of God,' 'daughters of men,' and 'giants.' The book begins by meticulously analyzing the Genesis 6:1–4 passage. It then traces the evolution of various exegetical interpretations from ancient times to the present day. Doedens also delves into the significance of the expression 'sons of God' in the context of the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. The final chapter focuses on deciphering the message and function of Genesis 6:1–4. By gathering a wealth of ancient and modern exegetical insights, this volume invites ongoing dialogue on this…