Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
Unlike Istehar, the pious maiden, Naamah, the lovely sister of
Tubal-cain, led the angels astray with her beauty, and from her union
with Shamdon sprang the devil Asmodeus.[11] She was as shameless as all
the other descendants of Cain, and as prone to bestial indulgences.
Cainite women and Cainite men alike were in the habit of walking abroad
naked, and they gave themselves up to every conceivable manner of lewd
practices. Of such were the women whose beauty and sensual charms
tempted the angels from the path of virtue. The angels, on the other
hand, no sooner had they rebelled against God and descended to earth
than they lost their transcendental qualities, and were invested with
sublunary bodies, so that a union with the daughters of men became
possible. The offspring of these alliances between the angels and the
Cainite women were the giants,[12] known for their strength and their
sinfulness; as their very name, the Emim, indicates, they inspired
fear. They have many other names. Sometimes they go by the name
Rephaim, because one glance at them made one's heart grow weak; or by
the name Gibborim, simply giants, because their size was so enormous
that their thigh measured eighteen ells; or by the name Zamzummim,
because they were great masters in war; or by the name Anakim, because
they touched the sun with their neck; or by the name Ivvim, because,
like the snake, they could judge of the qualities of the soil; or
finally, by the name Nephilim, because, bringing the world to its fall,
they themselves fell.[13]
THE GENERATION OF THE DELUGE
While the descendants of Cain resembled their father in his sinfulness
and depravity, the descendants of Seth led a pious, well-regulated
life, and the difference between the conduct of the two stocks was
reflected in their habitations. The family of Seth was settled upon the
mountains in the vicinity of Paradise, while the family of Cain resided
in the field of Damascus, the spot whereon Abel was slain by Cain.
Unfortunately, at the time of Methuselah, following the death of Adam,
the family of Seth became corrupted after the manner of the Cainites.
The two strains united with each other to execute all kinds of
iniquitous deeds. The result of the marriages between them were the
Nephilim, whose sins brought the deluge upon the world. In their
arrogance they claimed the same pedigree as the posterity of Seth, and
they compared themselves with princes and men of noble descent.[14]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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