Answers to Giant Questions: How Understanding the Biblical Nephilim Will Enlarge Your Faith

by T.J. Steadman

Genesis 4:17-18a “And Cain had relations with his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he [Enoch] builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son. [The name “Enoch” does not appear in the original at this point.] And unto Enoch was born Irad...” Technically, once Enoch is mentioned in verse 17, he becomes the new subject of the following verb, meaning that it was not Cain who built the city, but Enoch. And since Enoch built the city, it was named after Enoch’s son, not Cain’s. Therefore, the name of the city was not Enoch, but Irad. “Irad” is transliterated from the Hebrew `Iyrad, meaning “city of dominion” (from `iyr, “city” or “watcher” and radah, “dominion”). Sounds a lot like Eridu! And as the center of Mesopotamian kingship, that city – which predates Babylon by centuries – became Nimrod’s capital.