Humanoids in the Bible

The Hebrew Bible uses several different words for “man”, and it names several peoples it describes as giants. Some readers treat these words as labels for different kinds of beings. The notes below give each word, its basic meaning in the Brown, Driver and Briggs Hebrew lexicon (BDB), and the verses where it appears, quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Verse numbers follow the KJV; where the Hebrew numbering differs, it is given in brackets. Where a reading goes beyond the dictionary, it is marked as an interpretation.

Words for human beings

ʾĀdām (אָדָם)

Earth-born, red clay. Generic human, original form. Primordial template, in the reading that sees Adam as the first model of humankind. BDB gives “man, mankind” and, for the name, “red”. The word plays on ʾădāmâ, ground, in Genesis 2.

Man is formed from the ground.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:7, KJV

ben-ʾĀdām (בֶּן־אָדָם)

“Son of man”, a human being seen as mortal. It is the name God uses for the prophet throughout Ezekiel, as in Ezekiel 2:1: “Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.” Psalm 8:4 (Hebrew 8:5) sets it beside ʾĕnôš.

ʾîš hā-ʾădāmâ (אִישׁ הָאֲדָמָה)

Literally “man of the ground”. The phrase describes Noah in Genesis 9:20, which the KJV renders “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard”. It marks him as a farmer.

ʾĔnôš (אֱנוֹשׁ)

BDB gives “man, mortal man, person, mankind”, and links it to a verb meaning “to be weak, sick, frail”. It is also the name of Seth’s son, Enosh.

Psalm 8 asks what a mortal is.

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 8:4, KJV

śākîr (שָׂכִיר)

A hired labourer. BDB gives “hired, hireling”, and also “mercenary”. Job 7:1 compares a human life with a hireling’s days: “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?” The man there is ʾĕnôš.

ʾîš (אִישׁ)

The ordinary word for a man, an individual or a husband. It marks a person or a role, not a kind of being.

gēber (גֶּבֶר)

A man, from the root gābar, to be strong or to prevail. In Job 3:3 it is the newborn boy: “There is a man child conceived.” In Psalm 52:7 (Hebrew 52:9) it is the man that “made not God his strength”. The word stresses strength, not a separate caste.

The mighty ones

gibbôr, gibbôrîm (גִּבּוֹר, גִּבּוֹרִים)

Warrior, elite strongman, related to gēber. BDB gives “strong, mighty” and “strong man, brave man, mighty man”. The word is sometimes linked to hybrids or heroes because of Genesis 6:4, and those who read that verse as describing mixed offspring see the gibborim as possibly hybrid beings, semi-divine. The same word appears in Isaiah 9:6 (Hebrew 9:5) in the title ʾēl gibbôr, which the KJV renders “The mighty God”.

Nephilim (נְפִילִים)

Fallen ones, those who fall, from the root npl, to fall (BDB: “to fall, lie, be cast down, fail”). They appear before the Flood in Genesis 6:4 and after it in Numbers 13:33. Genesis 6:4 places them in the days when the “sons of God” (Hebrew bənê hāʾĕlōhîm) came to human women. Readers who take the children of that union to be the Nephilim describe them as giant, men of renown, hybrid and anomalous, and so not human. More on them is in the Nephilim.

Genesis 6:4 names the Nephilim and the mighty men of old.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men … the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:4, KJV

The KJV translates nəp̄ilîm as “giants” here and in Numbers 13:33.

The spies report Nephilim in Canaan.

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Numbers 13:33, KJV

The giant peoples

Rephāʾîm (רְפָאִים)

The word has two uses. BDB lists “ghosts of the dead, shades, spirits” and, as a people, “giants, Rephaim, old tribe of giants”. Isaiah 26:14 uses the first sense, which the KJV renders “they are deceased, they shall not rise”. Deuteronomy uses the second, and counts the Emim, the Anakim and the Zamzummim among the Rephaim.

ʿĂnāqîm (עֲנָקִים)

The sons of Anak, a giant clan in Canaan (see the Anakim). BDB gives the name as meaning “neck”. Numbers 13:33 makes them descendants of the Nephilim.

Zamzummîm (זַמְזֻמִּים)

The Ammonite name for the Rephaim who lived in their land (Deuteronomy 2:20 to 21). The meaning is uncertain. BDB’s full dictionary compares an Arabic word meaning to talk gibberish and adds a question mark, and the abridged BDB gives “plotters”.

ʾĒmîm (אֵמִים)

The Moabite name for the earlier giants of Moab. BDB gives “terrors”.

Deuteronomy explains the names.

The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims.

Deuteronomy 2:10 to 11, KJV

Divine beings

ʾĕlōhîm (אֱלֹהִים)

Usually “God”, but the plural form can also mean gods or divine beings. Psalm 82:6 addresses a council of them: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” Some readers see these as non-human rulers or Watchers.

Summary table

Term	Basic meaning	Key verses
ʾĀdām	Man, mankind; red	Gen 2:7
ben-ʾĀdām	Son of man, a mortal	Ezek 2:1; Ps 8:4
ʾîš hā-ʾădāmâ	Man of the ground, farmer	Gen 9:20
ʾĔnôš	Mortal man	Ps 8:4; Job 7:1
śākîr	Hired labourer	Job 7:1
ʾîš	Man, individual	Throughout
gēber	Man, strong one	Job 3:3; Ps 52:7
gibbôrîm	Mighty men	Gen 6:4; Isa 9:6
Nephilim	Fallen ones	Gen 6:4; Num 13:33
Rephāʾîm	Shades; giant people	Isa 26:14; Deut 2:11, 20
ʿĂnāqîm	Sons of Anak, "neck"	Num 13:33; Deut 2:10
Zamzummîm	Uncertain	Deut 2:20
ʾĒmîm	Terrors	Deut 2:10 to 11
ʾĕlōhîm	God, divine beings	Ps 82:6