Genesis 6:2

The sons of God] This expression occurs in other passages, e.g. Job 1:6; Job 38:7; Daniel 3:25 RV, where it is evident that the angels are meant, and this seems the only possible explanation here. It used to be supposed that the 'sons of God' meant the Sethites, who became corrupted by marriage with the Cainites. But the phrase is nowhere else used to describe them, and, as Bishop Ryle remarks, 'the popular assumption that Cain's descendants were pre-eminently wicked has no foundation either in Genesis 4 or Genesis 6.' Nor could such unions have produced the race of giants mentioned in Genesis 6:4. The religious idea suggested is that the wickedness that prevailed was too great to be entirely of mere human origin.