Genesis 6:2

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
sons	בְנֵי ve.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
God	הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ ha.'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
saw	וַיִּרְא֤וּ vai.yir.'U	H7200	to see · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
daughters	בְּנ֣וֹת be.Not	H1323	a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine plural construct
men	הָֽאָדָ֔ם ha.'a.Dam	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
they	הֵ֑נָּה He.nah	H2007	themselves (often used emphatic for the copula · personal pronoun, 3rd person feminine plural
fair	טֹבֹ֖ת to.Vot	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, feminine plural absolute
took	וַיִּקְח֤וּ vai.yik.Chu	H3947	to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
wives	נָשִׁ֔ים na.Shim	H802	a woman · noun, common masculine plural absolute
chose	בָּחָֽרוּ ba.Cha.ru	H977	properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 82:6-7 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the wo…
Romans 9:7-8 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
2 Samuel 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he…
Nehemiah 13:24-27 And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each peop…
2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices…
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 6:1-2

For the glory of God's justice, and for warning to a wicked world, before the history of the ruin of the old world, we have a full account of its degeneracy, its apostasy from God and rebellion against him. The destroying of it was an act, not of an absolute sovereignty, but of necessary justice, for the maintaining of the honour of God's government. Now here we have an account of two things which occasioned the wickedness of the old world: - 1. The increase of mankind: Men began to multiply upon the face of the earth. This was the effect of the blessing (Gen 1:28), and yet man's corruption so abused and perverted this blessing that it was turned into a curse. Thus sin takes occasion by the…

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Adam Clarke on Genesis 6:1

When men began to multiply - It was not at this time that men began to multiply, but the inspired penman speaks now of a fact which had taken place long before. As there is a distinction made here between men and those called the sons of God, it is generally supposed that the immediate posterity of Cain and that of Seth are intended. The first were mere men, such as fallen nature may produce, degenerate sons of a degenerate father, governed by the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life. The others were sons of God, not angels, as some have dreamed, but such as were, according to our Lord's doctrine, born again, born from above, Joh 3:3, Joh 3:5,Joh 3:6, etc., and m…

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John Gill on Genesis 6:2

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair,.... Or "good" (k), not in a moral but natural sense; goodly to look upon, of a beautiful aspect; and they looked upon, and only regarded their external beauty, and lusted after them: those "sons of God" were not angels either good or bad, as many have thought, since they are incorporeal beings, and cannot be affected with fleshly lusts, or marry and be given in marriage, or generate and be generated; nor the sons of judges, magistrates, and great personages, nor they themselves, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; but this could be no crime in them, to look upon and take in marriage such pers…

The Church Fathers

To which also we shall add, that the angels who had obtained the superior rank, having sunk into pleasures, told to the women the secrets which had come to their knowledge; while the rest of the angels concealed them, or rather, kept them against the coming of the Lord.
— Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 5

He called the sons of Seth sons of God, those who, like the sons of Seth, had been called "the righteous people of God." The beautiful daughters of men whom they saw were the daughters of Cain who adorned themselves and became a snare to the eyes of the sons of Seth. Then Moses said, they took them wives of all which they chose.
— Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis, pages 134-135

Not only man, but also the "sons of God, seeing the daughters of men that they are fair, took for themselves wives of all whom they chose," and consistently all those who left "their own dwelling" and did not preserve their own principality—and by "principality" I mean not in reference to power but to the beginning and foundation; just as for man, the beginning was to be in paradise, but the end perhaps due to transgression in Hades below or some such place, so also for each of the fallen ones a particular beginning is given.
— Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 13

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Daughter — This word, besides its natural and proper sense, is used to designate, (1.) A niece or any female descendant (Gen. 20:12; 24:48; 28:6). (2.) Women as natives of a place, or as professing the religion…
Giants — (1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying…
Marriage — Was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be framed (Matt.…
Noah — Rest, (Heb. Noah) the grandson of Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-29), who was for two hundred and fifty years contemporary with Adam, and the son of Lamech, who was about fifty years old at the time of Adam’s…
Son of God — The plural, “sons of God,” is used (Gen. 6:2, 4) to denote the pious descendants of Seth. In Job 1:6; 38:7 this name is applied to the angels. Hosea uses the phrase (1:10) to designate the gracious…

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 6:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 6:1-2

Adam Clarke on Genesis 6:1

John Gill on Genesis 6:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 6:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 6:1-2

Adam Clarke on Genesis 6:1

John Gill on Genesis 6:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 6:2

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 6:1-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 6:1-8

Rashi on Genesis 6:2