Giants in the Bible
The Hebrew Bible has no single word for giant, and its tall figures are not one people. The Nephilim appear in Genesis 6:1-4 and Numbers 13:33; Goliath fights David in 1 Samuel 17, with a different height in the Septuagint; Og's iron bedstead is measured in Deuteronomy 3. Later retelling enlarged all three, and this page keeps the text and the enlargement apart.
- NephilimFree
Biblical / Near Eastern
The mighty ones of old: offspring of the sons of God and daughters of men.
- Goliath of GathFree
Biblical / Philistine
The Philistine champion of Gath who fell to a shepherd's stone.
- Og of BashanMembers
Biblical / Near Eastern
Last of the Rephaim; king of Bashan whose iron bed was a wonder.
- ʿUj ibn ʿAnāqMembers
Islamic tradition, Arabic and Persian
Later Arabic and Persian retelling of Og, not a biblical text.
He is the biblical Og, after five centuries of retelling. By the end he was standing knee-deep in the open ocean, catching whales and holding them up to the sun to cook.