1When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. 6Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 7Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
9This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 10Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth. 14Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 15This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels. 17I, even I, will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die. 18But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive. 21Take with you some of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.” 22Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.
The meaning of the "sons of God," in this passage has been interpreted three ways: categories: 1) Angels, 2) kings and rulers, and 3) the people of God. The first option draws the interpreter’s attention as follows: Around the second century B.C. the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates the “sons of God” in Gen. 6:2 as “angels.” 1 Enoch, a Jewish apocryphal literature of the second century B.C., quoted by Jude, also interprets Gen. 6:1-4 in terms of the fallen angel’s cohabitation with human women. This view appears to have been held by all of the church fathers prior to St. Augustine. This option is perhaps most appealing in light of the New Testament because the New Testament authors refer to the concept of fallen angels in 2 Pet 2:4 and Jude 6, and its usage in Job 1:6. While 2 Pet 2:4, speaks only of some angels in the days of Noah committing a sin that brought them under God's judgment, the writer Jude provides the nature of the sin that Peter mentions, that it was sexual in nature, as was the sin of Sodom (use of the comparative ὡς in Greek). This option, however, does not answer the question of why God punished men by the Flood if the sons of God were angels unless the text in Genesis speaks of angels who were fallen angels who had already fallen or fell into sin by this act. Furthermore, God bestowed procreative power on animals and humanity (Gen. 1:22, 28), not angels. In fact, Jesus denied angels’ procreative ability (Matt. 22:30), but this might only speak of angels when they are incorporeal. When angels take on human form, as in Genesis 18 (one, Yahweh Himself), who interacted with Abraham, had their feet washed, and ate a meal with Abraham, it is possible they had other human capabilities.
A second option is that human kings and rulers took any woman of their choice (single or married) for royal harems. In this case, the source of moral decay was the tyrants' polygamy and abuse of power. A difficulty is that the larger context of this text reveals that this text is not about decadent kingship but the moral corruption of humanity as a whole.
The third option views the "sons of God" as the godly men in the lineage of Seth (Gen. 4:24-5:32), a view first held by the church father, Augustine. Gen. 4:26 deliberately mentions that people during the time of Seth's son Enosh began to call on the name of Yahweh. The "daughters of men" here refer to the ungodly descendants of Cain (Gen. 4:17-24). The larger context which leads to this text sets forth the genealogies of godly people (the people of God) and ungodly people (Cainites) and the present text accounts for the fall of the human race in terms of this ungodly union.