Translation choice · documented · Divine Council
What the source reads — bene ha-elohim — 'the sons of God' take wives among the daughters of men; their offspring are the Nephilim, 'the fallen ones' (so the Hebrew; the Vulgate and the KJV keep 'sons of God')
What this version reads — hoi angeloi tou theou — the Septuagint reads 'the angels of God', and the Nephilim become 'giants' (gigantes), which every later version keeps
The strangest passage in Genesis: 'the sons of God' — divine beings of the council — take human wives, and their children are the Nephilim, 'the fallen ones'. The Septuagint renders the sons of God 'the angels of God', and it is this Greek reading that grew into the whole tradition of the fallen angels and the Watchers of 1 Enoch. The Nephilim, meanwhile, become 'giants' (gigantes) in the Greek, and every later version keeps 'giants' — so 'the fallen ones' quietly becomes a race of big men. The Hebrew and the Vulgate keep 'sons of God' — and so do the Samaritan Torah and the Ethiopic; the Greek alone made them angels.
Read this chapter side by side — Genesis 6:1-4 →