---
title: נְפִילִים — giants · The Tanakh dictionary
description: נְפִילִים (5303), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 3 times: giants. BDB 1906: n.m.pl. giants. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# נְפִילִים

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«נְפִילִים» in the Tanakh dictionary: **giants** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

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**Used:** 3 times · **Key:** 5303 · **BDB:** נְפִלִים

### Glosses

Nephilim (3)

### Meaning (OSHB)

giants [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/5303/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

n.m.pl. giants [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/5303/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** n.m.pl. giants, according to 𝔊 γίγαντες, so 𝔖𝔙; הַנְּפִלִים Gn 6:4 (J), הַנְּפִילִים בְּנֵי עֲנָק מִן־הַנְּפִלִים Nu 13:33 (JE); 𝔊 om. בְּנֵי וגו׳, and so Di; these words perhaps doublet, but already in Sam., also 𝔙 (etym. dub.; cf. Aramaic נִיפְלָא, נְפִיּלָא Orion; conject. v. in Thes Di ad loc.; Tuch Kn Len Or. i, 344, Eng. Tr. 345 f.; Che Hbr. iii (1887), 175, 176; all very precarious).

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Why these entries: BDB: same consonants, part of speech agrees, 2 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses (1 candidates); OSHB: same consonants, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (1 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «נְפִילִים» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/5303/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Numbers 13:33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.13.33/)

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וְשָׁ֣ם רָאִ֗ינוּ אֶת־הַנְּפִילִ֛ים בְּנֵ֥י עֲנָ֖ק מִן־הַנְּפִלִ֑ים וַנְּהִ֤י בְעֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים וְכֵ֥ן הָיִ֖ינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃

*Word for word:* and there we.saw (et) the Nephilim \[the\].descendants of.Anak \[were\].from the Nephilim and we.were in our.own eyes like grasshoppers and thus we.were in eyes their

*JPS 1917:* And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'

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[Genesis 6:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.6.4/)

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הַנְּפִלִ֞ים הָי֣וּ בָאָרֶץ֮ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵם֒ וְגַ֣ם אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֗ן אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָבֹ֜אוּ בְּנֵ֤י הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־בְּנ֣וֹת הָֽאָדָ֔ם וְיָלְד֖וּ לָהֶ֑ם הֵ֧מָּה הַגִּבֹּרִ֛ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר מֵעוֹלָ֖ם אַנְשֵׁ֥י הַשֵּֽׁם׃פ

*Word for word:* the Nephilim they.were on the earth in the days (the) those and also after thus when they.went the.sons of.(the) God into the.daughters of.(the) humankind and they.bore.children to them they \[were\].the mighty.\[men\] who \[were\].from long.ago the.men of.(the) name

*JPS 1917:* The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

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