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Was Goliath a Nephilim? (+ who were the Nephilim?)

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Short answer

Two genuinely contested questions sit here, who/what the Nephilim were, and whether Goliath was one, and the Bible leaves both more open than popular retellings admit. The major interpretive options are presented neutrally, separating carefully what the text states from what is inferred.

Where the Nephilim appear

TextWhat it says
Genesis 6:1-4"The sons of God" took "the daughters of men"; … (KJV renders Nephilim "giants.")
Numbers 13:33The spies in Canaan: …

The Hebrew nephilim is often linked to the root "to fall" (fallen ones) or taken as a loanword; the KJV's "giants" follows the Septuagint's gigantes. The text says they were "mighty men… of renown," and the Anakim (sons of Anak) are described elsewhere as unusually tall and strong (Deuteronomy 9:2).

The big question: who were "the sons of God" in Genesis 6?

ViewPositionHeld by (tradition)
Fallen angels / angelic union"Sons of God" = angelic beings whose union with women produced the Nephilim. The oldest attested view (Second-Temple Judaism, 1 Enoch); supported by appeals to Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 (angels who sinned / left their estate) and the OT use of "sons of God" for heavenly beings (Job 1:6; Job 38:7).The earliest Jewish reading; many early church fathers; common today, esp. with the angels-bound texts.
Sethite line (godly line of Seth)"Sons of God" = the godly line of Seth, "daughters of men" = the ungodly line of Cain; the sin is unequal/compromising marriage, not angelic union.Augustine; much of the later Western + Reformed tradition.
Dynastic rulers / "divine" kings"Sons of God" = powerful rulers or kings claiming divine status; the Nephilim are their renowned warrior offspring.A scholarly view drawing on ancient Near-Eastern royal ideology.

This reference notes all three are held by serious interpreters and does not adjudicate the Gen.6 question (it touches angelology, the meaning of "sons of God," and how to read Jude 6 / 2 Peter 2:4).

The post-flood puzzle

Numbers 13:33 places Nephilim (via the Anakim) after the flood, while Gen.6-7 has the flood destroying all but Noah's family. How the name recurs is itself debated:

  • The spies exaggerated, Numbers 13:33 is part of the bad report the faithless spies gave (Numbers 13:32 calls it "an evil report"); the comparison may be rhetorical hyperbole, not a genealogical claim.
  • "Nephilim" became a label for any giant-warrior people, the later Anakim were called Nephilim by reputation, not necessarily descent.
  • A second occurrence, Genesis 6:4 says "and also after that," which some read as allowing later, separate appearances.

Was Goliath a Nephilim?

What the text states: Goliath was a Philistine champion from Gath, of extraordinary height (1 Samuel 17:4). He belonged to a line of Gath giants, the rapha/Rephaim, explicitly: 2 Samuel 21:15-22 (cf. 1 Chronicles 20:4-8) lists Goliath and other Gath giants as … And Gath is named as one of the few places where the Anakim remained after Joshua's conquest (Joshua 11:22).

What the text does NOT state: the Bible never calls Goliath a "Nephilim." He is called a giant of the Rephaim line of Gath. Because Gath is linked to surviving Anakim (Joshua 11:22), and the spies linked Anakim to Nephilim (Numbers 13:33), a chain of inference connects Goliath → Gath/Anakim → Nephilim, but that is an interpretive inference, not a biblical statement, and it rides on the contested post-flood-Nephilim question above.

QuestionHonest answer
Was Goliath a giant?Yes, explicitly (1 Samuel 17:4; 2 Samuel 21:19-22, of the Rephaim/rapha of Gath).
Was Goliath called a "Nephilim"?No, Scripture never uses that word of him.
Could he be linked to the Nephilim?Only by inference (Gath ↔ surviving Anakim ↔ Nephilim, Joshua 11:22 + Numbers 13:33), plausible to some, unproven, and dependent on the disputed post-flood question.

A textual note (this reference commits on textual fact): Goliath's height differs by manuscript, the Masoretic Text reads "six cubits and a span" (~9 ft 9 in), while the Septuagint and a Dead Sea Scrolls witness (4QSam^a) read "four cubits and a span" (~6 ft 9 in). Either way he was exceptionally tall for the era; the manuscripts simply differ on how much.

Common ground

All views agree: the Nephilim were renowned "mighty men" associated with great size/strength (Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33); the Anakim and Rephaim were real giant clans Israel encountered (Deu.2-3; Joshua 11:22); Goliath was a genuine giant of Gath's Rephaim line; and Scripture's interest is theological, God's people need not fear "giants," because the battle is the LORD's (Numbers 14:9; 1 Samuel 17:45-47). The identity-of-the-sons-of-God and Goliath-as-Nephilim questions are interpretive, not gospel-essential.

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

  • Genesis 6:1bsb

    Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,

  • Numbers 13:33bsb

    We even saw the Nephilim there— the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”

  • Deuteronomy 9:2bsb

    The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”

  • 2 Peter 2:4bsb

    For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

  • Job 1:6bsb

    One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.

  • Job 38:7bsb

    while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

  • Numbers 13:32bsb

    So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature.

  • Genesis 6:4bsb

    The Nephilim were on the earth in those days— and afterward as well— when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

  • 1 Samuel 17:4bsb

    Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

  • 2 Samuel 21:15bsb

    Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines. But David became exhausted.

  • 1 Chronicles 20:4bsb

    Some time later, war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued.

  • Joshua 11:22bsb

    No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.

  • 2 Samuel 21:19bsb

    Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

  • Numbers 14:9bsb

    Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

  • 1 Samuel 17:45bsb

    But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.

Was Goliath a Nephilim? (+ who were the Nephilim?) · Bubble Bible