The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose.
Ramban
BNEI HA’ELOHIM. The sons of princes and rulers. This is the language of Rashi, and so it is in Bereshith Rabbah. If so, Scripture relates that the judges whose duty it was to administer justice among them committed open violence without anyone interfering. ‘KI’ (WHEN) THEY WERE FAIR. [The meaning of the word ki here] is the same as in the verses: ‘Ki’ (when) thou seest the ass of him that hateth thee; ‘ki’ (when) a bird’s nest chance to be before thee. When the daughters of men were fair, they would take them forcibly as wives for themselves. Thus Scripture tells of the violence and mentions further, whomsoever they chose, in order to include those who were married to others. Scripture, however, did not mention the prohibition concerning them clearly, and the punishment decreed upon them was only because of the violence, because this is a reasoned concept and does not require the Torah to prohibit it.
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.