H5303 — נְפִיל (nᵉphîyl)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5303
Original: נְפִיל (also spelled נְפִל)
Transliteration: nᵉphîyl
Pronunciation: nef-eel
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: נָפַל (nâphal, H5307) — to fall; nᵉphîyl = "a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant"
Occurrences: 3 tokens, 2 unique verses, 2 books
First Occurrence: Gen 6:4 — "There were giants in the earth in those days"
Hapax Legomenon: No (2 verses, but only in OT)

Lexicon Definition¶

or נְפִל nᵉphil; from H5307 (nâphal); properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:—giant.

Gesenius: the root nâphal (to fall) yields nᵉphîyl as "one who falls upon others" — a violent attacker or one who causes others to fall. English "Nephilim" is the Hebrew plural נְפִילִים (nᵉphîylîym).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
the giants	2	67%
giants	1	33%

KJV renders nᵉphîyl uniformly as "giants." No other English equivalents are used.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Abbrev	Count	Book Verses	Per 100 Verses
Genesis	Gen	1	1533	0.1
Numbers	Num	2	1288	0.2

Extremely rare — only 2 verses in the entire OT. Both occurrences are narrative contexts: pre-flood Genesis and the Kadesh spy report.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Antediluvian Giants (Pre-Flood)¶

Gen 6:4 — "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, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

The phrase "and also after that" signals the text anticipates a continuation of the nᵉphîyl beyond the flood era. The Nephilim are placed in the same context as the union between "sons of God" (H430 בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים) and human women, though the syntax does not definitively equate them with the offspring.

2. Canaanite Giants at Kadesh (Post-Flood Memory)¶

Num 13:33 — "And there we saw the giants (nᵉphîyl), the sons of Anak, which come of the giants (nᵉphîyl): and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers (châgâb), and so we were in their sight."

The word appears twice in this verse — first identifying what the spies saw, then in the relative clause "which come of the giants." The Anakim (descendants of Anak) are here explicitly linked to the Nephilim. This report is part of the Israelite scouts' fearful account that triggered the forty-year wilderness wandering; whether this is literal genealogy or rhetorical exaggeration cannot be determined from the word itself.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
גִּבּוֹר (gibbôwr)	H1368	1x (50%)	Gen 6:4 — Nephilim era produces "mighty men" (gibbôrîm)
אֱלֹהִים (ʼĕlôhîym)	H430	1x (50%)	Gen 6:4 — "sons of God" in the same narrative
עָנָק (ʻÂnâq)	H6061	1x (50%)	Num 13:33 — "sons of Anak" identified as descendants of the Nephilim
חָגָב (châgâb)	H2284	1x (50%)	Num 13:33 — "like grasshoppers" — contrast of spy smallness vs. giant size
עוֹלָם (ʻôwlâm)	H5769	1x (50%)	Gen 6:4 — "men of old" (ʻôwlâm — remote antiquity)

All collocations are at 50% because the word appears in only 2 verses.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H5307 נָפַל (nâphal) — root verb, "to fall" (434 occurrences); nᵉphîyl derives from this root via the nif'al pattern

Synonyms¶

No curated synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H5303.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H5303.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רָפָא (râphâʼ / Rephaim)	H7497	both translated "giants" / "of the giants"	H7497 is used for the Rephaim, a distinct group of ancient large people in Canaan/Transjordan (Gen 14:5; Deut 2:10–11; 2 Sam 21); H5303 (Nephilim) appears only in Gen 6:4 and Num 13:33
גִּבּוֹר (gibbôwr)	H1368	KJV translates H1368 "like a giant" once (Ps 19:5)	gibbôwr means "mighty man / warrior / hero" (160+ uses); nᵉphîyl is a specific category of being, not a generic word for "mighty"

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[003001006] Names of Groups — search_relationships.py places nᵉphîyl in a group-name category alongside ethnonym / clan labels such as H33 אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי, H91 אֲגָגִי, H123/H130/H726 אֱדוֹם / אֱדוֹמִי, and H244 אָזְנִי.