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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Giants
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jı̄´ants The word appears in the King James Version as the translation of the Hebrew words × ×¤×™×œ×™×, nephı̄lı̄m (; ); רפ××™×, rephaÌ„'ı̄m (, ; , ; , etc.); רפ×, raÌ„phaÌ„' (, , ), or רפה, raÌ„phaÌ„h (, , , ); in one instance of גּבּור, gibboÌ„r, literally, “mighty one†().
In the first two cases the Revised Version (British and American) changes “giants†into the Hebrew words “Nephilim,†nephı̄lı̄m, and “Rephaim,†rephā'ı̄m, respectively (see these words). The “Nephilim†of are not to be confounded with the “mighty men†subsequently described as the offspring of the unlawful marriages, of “the sons of God†and “the daughters of men.†It is told that they overspread the earth prior to these unhallowed unions. That the word, whatever its etymology, bears the sense of men of immense stature is evident from the later passages; . The same is true of the “Rephaim,†as shown by the instance of Og (; ). There is no doubt about the meaning of the word in the ease of the giants mentioned in 2 Sam 21 and -8. See also ANTEDILUVIANS.