Beautiful Women or 'False Judgment'? Interpreting Genesis 6.2 in the Context of the Primaeval History

In Gen. 6.2 the sons of God see that the daughters of humankind are 'beautiful', yet the adjective used in 6.2 is not ‭הפי‬, 'beautiful, handsome', but ‭בוט‬, 'good'. An examination of the adjective ‭בוט‬ in the present study leads to the conclusion that ‭בוט‬ in Gen. 6.2 does not mean 'beautiful', but 'good'. This study proposes that 6.2 is not connected to the 'beauty' motif found in the ensuing chapters of Genesis, but to the 'seeing...good' motif in the preceding creation story (Gen. 1-3). The conclusion is reached that what sets the story in motion is not the attractive appearance of the women, but the false judgment by the sons of God whose actions recall Eve's in Gen. 3.6.