The text itself draws a line between them, though the exact biology behind it is genuinely obscure.
Genesis 6:4 introduces the Nephilim before the flood — offspring of "God's sons" and human women, "the mighty men who were of old, men of renown." Who "God's sons" are is disputed (angelic beings, or a human royal/dynastic line — the Hebrew is compressed and the passage doesn't stop to explain itself).
The next link is Numbers 13:33, where the spies scouting Canaan report "the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim." That's the text's own claim of descent — Anakim as, in some sense, Nephilim stock, encountered generations after the flood. That's a difficulty in itself: if the Nephilim were wiped out in the flood, their reappearance afterward has puzzled readers for centuries, and there's no single settled resolution.
Deuteronomy 9:2 and Joshua 11:22 confirm the Anakim as a real, greatly feared people group in Canaan, mostly destroyed under Joshua, with a remnant surviving in Philistine cities — specifically Gath, Gaza, and Ashdod.
That detail matters, because Goliath is from Gath (1 Samuel 17, not given here, but assumed background), and 1 Chronicles 20:6 and 20:8 speak of others "born to the giant" in Gath — a six-fingered, six-toed man among them, plainly a family of unusually large men in that same city.
So the chain the text draws is: Nephilim → Anakim → surviving Anakite remnant in Gath → Goliath's household. It's presented as lineage, not myth for its own sake — though the mechanism behind Genesis 6:4 remains one of the Old Testament's real unresolved puzzles.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.closest in meaning to what you asked
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- Numbers 13:33 There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
- Deuteronomy 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Isn't it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its width, after the cubit of a man.)
- 1 Samuel 17:4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span went out.
- 2 Samuel 21:15 The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint;
- Deuteronomy 2:20 (That also is considered a land of Rephaim. Rephaim lived there in the past, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?"closest in meaning to what you asked
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- Numbers 13:22 They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
- Daniel 11:16 But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the glorious land, and destruction will be in his hand.
- Deuteronomy 2:21 a great people, many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them from before Israel, and they succeeded them, and lived in their place,
- Job 11:10 If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
- Exodus 9:11 The magicians couldn't stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."closest in meaning to what you asked
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- Deuteronomy 1:28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, 'The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!'"
- Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
- Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
- 1 Samuel 17:42 When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face.
- Deuteronomy 9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?"
These were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.closest in meaning to what you asked
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- Romans 8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
- Jeremiah 9:23 Yahweh says, "Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don't let the mighty man glory in his might. Don't let the rich man glory in his riches.
- Joshua 14:12 Now therefore give me this hill country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Yahweh said."
There were none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, did some remain.closest in meaning to what you asked
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- 1 Samuel 17:4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span went out.
- 1 Chronicles 18:1 After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines.
- Joshua 15:46 from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages.
- 1 Samuel 5:1 Now the Philistines had taken God's ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
- Nehemiah 13:23 In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab;
There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot; and he also was born to the giant.closest in meaning to what you asked
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- 2 Samuel 21:20 There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on every hand and six toes on every foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was born to the giant.
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