2. Then the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and took them to be their wives, whomsoever they chose.

"Then the sons of God saw the daughters of men..." This is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to interpret; its main difficulty lies in determining who is to be understood here as "the sons of God." Some, mainly Jewish rabbis, basing themselves on the philological meaning of the root (of God), saw here an indication of the sons of nobles and princes, in general of the upper and noble classes, who allegedly married girls of the lower social strata. Hence, the term "sons of God" in Arabic. in the text it is translated as filii illustrium, in the Targum of Onkelos as filii principium, in Symmachus as ύιοί τών δοναστεύοντων. But this explanation does not stand up positively to any criticism, being completely arbitrary and does not explain the further consequences of this fact.

Most of the other Jewish and Christian interpreters of antiquity, together with the rationalists of modern times, understand the "sons of God" to be angels. Being thoroughly developed in the apocryphal books of Enoch and the Jubilees and in the writings of Philo, this opinion in the first centuries of the Christian era was so widely known that it was shared even by many of the Fathers and teachers of the Church (Justin the Philosopher, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Ambrose, and others). Although it is true that by the term "sons of God" the Holy Scriptures sometimes, mainly in the poetic sections, mean "angels" (Job I:6 [384]; II:1 [385]; XXXVIII:7 [386] and others), nevertheless, both the very context of this narrative and its positive historical character, as well as philological-dogmatic requirements, do not allow us to take the side of this opinion.

We consider the third opinion to be the only correct one, which happily avoids the shortcomings of the above two opinions and satisfies all philological, textual and historical-dogmatic requirements, according to which the "sons of God" should be understood as pious "Sethites." On his side are the majority of the Church Fathers famous for their exegetical works (John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Blessed Theodoret, Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerome, Augustine, and others) and a number of modern learned exegetes (headed by Keil).

This opinion is fully justified philologically, since the name "sons of God" in the Holy Scriptures of both Testaments (Deuteronomy XIV:1; Psalm LXXII:15 [387]; Wis XVI:26 [388]; Luke III:38 [373]; Rom VIII:19 [389]; Galatians III:26 [390] and others) is often applied to pious people. This is also favored by the context of the previous narration, in which, when counting the descendants of Seth, the name of God is placed at his head, which is why all the Sethites are represented as His children. The same thing is indicated still more emphatically in the final verse of chapter 4, where (v. 26) it is said that in the days of Enos the Sethites began to solemnly call upon the name of the Lord, and to be called in his honor "sons of God." Finally, the very nature of marriages concluded between the sons of God and the daughters of men speaks for this: in the sense of the Biblical expression used here, these were not temporary and unnatural relations (which could only be the intercourse of angels with wives), but ordinary marriages, correct legally, although pernicious in their moral consequences.

"They saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful..." If we remember that when characterizing the Cainite women, physical beauty and sensual charm were in the foreground (Ada, Zillah, Noama), it becomes clear that here the writer of Genesis speaks specifically about the Cainite women. With this understanding of the "sons of God" and "daughters of men," we fully endure the contrast between them given in the text: both are representatives of one and the same primitive humanity; but, being similar in nature, they are opposite in their spiritual and moral disposition: the "sons of God" were the exponents of all that is good, sublime and good; the daughters of men, behaving seductively, are the personification of earthly sensual interests. Over time, the opposition of morals disappears – the sons of God mingle with the daughters of men, which erases the boundary between good and evil and gives full scope to the domination of the lower, sensual interests of the flesh to the detriment of the higher interests of the spirit.

3. And the Lord (God) said, "My Spirit shall not be despised forever by men, because they are flesh; let their days be a hundred and twenty years.

"My Spirit shall not be despised by men forever..." Obviously, there is a continuation of the previous narration: the fact itself was indicated there, and the corresponding assessment is given here; and if here the characters are clearly called men, then they (and not angels) were understood above. In particular, the words of the biblical text: "To My Spirit" contain an indication either of the inner, spiritual essence of human nature (with a blank reference to the history of the creation of man, II:6), or, what is even more likely, of the Holy Spirit, as the founding principle of all life in general (Genesis I:2) and of the religious-ethical life par excellence. Disdain for Him is precisely that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which, according to the Saviour, constitutes one of the most serious deadly sins (Mark III:29 [391]), since it characterizes such a degree of sinful hardening of a person that no correction becomes psychologically possible.

"For they are flesh..." This is the reason why people have neglected the divine Spirit and deserved punishment. The first word of this phrase is more accurately translated by Metropolitan Philaret: "in his error" – evidently, the biblical author was again pointing to the impious relationship between the Sethites and the Cainites. Since, by entering into such marriages, people bore witness to the decline of their higher, spiritual interests and to the dominance of lower, carnal ones, they themselves seemed to be transformed into that coarse flesh which, in the language of Holy Scripture, serves as a synonym for everything base, material, and sinful.

"Let their days be a hundred and twenty years..." These words cannot be understood in the sense of reducing human life to the limits of one hundred and twenty years (as understood by Josephus, Antiquities I, 3, 2), since it is reliably known that for a long time after the flood mankind lived more than 120 years, sometimes reaching up to 500, and in them we should see the period appointed by God for the repentance and correction of people, during which the righteous Noah prophesied about the flood and made appropriate preparations for it (1 Peter III:20 [392]).

4. At that time there were giants on the earth, especially from the time when the sons of God began to come to the daughters of men, and they began to bear children to them: they are strong, glorious men of old.

"At that time there were giants on the earth..." Pre-Flood mankind is called "Nephilim", in the true nephilim – "Nephilim". Though it is true that the term is sometimes used in Scripture to refer to giants or giants (Num. XIII:33-34), the basic meaning of the root is "to destroy, to overthrow," and in the form of niph it is "to cause to fall, to seduce, to corrupt." Therefore, in these primitive "Nephilim" one can see people who were not only distinguished by extraordinary physical strength and stature, but also persons who deliberately trampled on the truth and oppressed the weak. There had been such personalities among the Cainites before, probably since the time of Tubal-Cain, who invented weapons, and Lamech, who sang a victory hymn to him; From the time of the mixing of the Setites with the Cainites, these "Nephilim" especially multiplied as a result of the general corruption and the fall of all moral foundations.

"They were strong, illustrious people from ancient times..." Here we are talking about the fruits of mixed marriages, which, in contrast to "nephilim", are called "gibborim" (strong ones) in the Hebrew text. The latter name in biblical usage means an outstanding person (2 Kings XVII:10 [393]; Dan XI:3 [394]), a picked warrior, a man who surpasses others in strength (1 Kings XI:28 [395]). From this it is obvious that the descendants of mixed clans (Sethites and Cainites) surpassed their prototypes, both in physical and immoral qualities. Calling these "gibborim" from ancient times "glorious people", the writer of Genesis probably had in mind the fact that they, under the name of "heroes of antiquity", became world famous in the universal traditions of mankind (Var III:26-28 [396]).

5. And the Lord (God) saw that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts and thoughts of their hearts were evil all the time;