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 "wonder," and hence "monsters" or "prodigies." In
    Num. 13:33 this name is given to a Canaanitish tribe, a race of
    large stature, "the sons of Anak." The Revised Version, in these
    passages, simply transliterates the original, and reads
    "Nephilim."

      (2.) Heb. rephaim, a race of giants (Deut. 3:11) who lived on
    the east of Jordan, from whom Og was descended. They were
    probably the original inhabitants of the land before the
    immigration of the Canaanites. They were conquered by
    Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:5), and their territories were promised as
    a possession to Abraham (15:20). The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim
    were branches of this stock.

      In Job 26:5 (R.V., "they that are deceased;" marg., "the
    shades," the "Rephaim") and Isa. 14:9 this Hebrew word is
    rendered (A.V.) "dead." It means here "the shades," the departed
    spirits in Sheol. In Sam. 21:16, 18, 20, 33, "the giant" is
    (A.V.) the rendering of the singular form _ha raphah_, which may
    possibly be the name of the father of the four giants referred
    to here, or of the founder of the Rephaim. The Vulgate here
    reads "Arapha," whence Milton (in Samson Agonistes) has borrowed
    the name "Harapha." (See also 1 Chron. 20:5, 6, 8; Deut. 2:11,
    20; 3:13; Josh. 15:8, etc., where the word is similarly rendered
    "giant.") It is rendered "dead" in (A.V.) Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18;
    9:18; 21:16: in all these places the Revised Version marg. has
    "the shades." (See also Isa. 26:14.)

      (3.) Heb. 'Anakim (Deut. 2:10, 11, 21; Josh. 11:21, 22; 14:12,
    15; called "sons of Anak," Num. 13:33; "children of Anak,"
    13:22; Josh. 15:14), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba
    (Josh. 14:15), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of
    Palestine near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). They were a
    Cushite tribe of the same race as the Philistines and the
    Egyptian shepherd kings. David on several occasions encountered
    them (2 Sam. 21:15-22). From this race sprung Goliath (1 Sam.
    17:4).

      (4.) Heb. 'emin, a warlike tribe of the ancient Canaanites.
    They were "great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims" (Gen.
    14:5; Deut. 2:10, 11).

      (5.) Heb. Zamzummim (q.v.), Deut. 2:20 so called by the
    Amorites.

      (6.) Heb. gibbor (Job 16:14), a mighty one, i.e., a champion
    or hero. In its plural form (gibborim) it is rendered "mighty
    men" (2 Sam. 23:8-39; 1 Kings 1:8; 1 Chr. 11:9-47; 29:24.) The
    band of six hundred whom David gathered around him when he was a
    fugitive were so designated. They were divided into three
    divisions of two hundred each, and thirty divisions of twenty
    each. The captians of the thirty divisions were called "the
    thirty," the captains of the two hundred "the three," and the
    captain over the whole was called "chief among the captains" (2
    Sam. 23:8). The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Gen. 6:4
    are also called by this Hebrew name.