The Book of Giants survives, in a highly fragmentary state, in two versions: the original, known from remnants of Dead Sea Scrolls written in Aramaic, and a later Manichean version, known from manuscript scraps found in Central Asia written in three old Iranian languages and in Old Turkic (Uigur). The Book of Giants recaps the story of the descent of the angelic watchers from heaven to mate with mortal women, who bore them giant offspring with catastrophic results (cf. 1 Enoch 1–36 and Genesis 6:1-4). The rest of the book tells the tragic story of these offspring from their own perspective.
Chapter from James R. Davila and Richard Bauckham (eds.), Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol.2, More Noncanonical Scriptures (Eerdmans, 2025).
By James Davila
School of Divinity
Professor of Early Jewish Studies
University of St. Andrews
April 2025
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