Genesis 6
Big idea: The spread of the fracture reaches its limit. A cryptic, ominous episode of boundary-crossing between "God's sons" and human daughters opens onto the verdict that governs the flood: every imagination of the human heart was only evil continually. What follows is one of the most startling sentences in Scripture — Yahweh was sorry that he had made man, and it grieved him in his heart. This is not a cold judge but a wounded maker. And then a single adversative: "But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes." God's plan is not deletion but preservation through judgment, and the instrument is a wooden box with a door, built by a man who did all that God commanded him.
Chapter 6 ends with the ark built to spec and Noah's obedience noted in a single sentence. Chapter 7 begins with the summons to come inside, and the seven-day countdown before the waters come.
6:1–4 — Boundaries crossed
As humanity multiplies, "God's sons" see that human daughters are beautiful and take any they choose. Yahweh limits human days to 120 years. The Nephilim are on the earth in those days — mighty men of renown. The passage is deliberately compressed and hard, and its function is atmospheric: a world where limits are no longer respected.
1 When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3 Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” 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.
6:5–8 — Grief in heaven, favor for one man
The narrator states the verdict in total terms: the wickedness of man was great, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. God's response is grief — he is sorry he made humanity, and it hurts him. He resolves to blot out what he made. Then one short sentence turns the whole book: but Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.
5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. 6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 7 Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
6:9–12 — The generations of Noah
A new toledot heading introduces Noah with three descriptions: righteous, blameless among the people of his time, and — like Enoch — he walked with God. Against him the earth is described twice as corrupt and filled with violence, and God sees it, just as he once saw that it was good.
9 This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
6:13–22 — Build a ship
God tells Noah the end has come, and gives him an assignment with exact dimensions: gopher wood, sealed inside and out, three hundred cubits long, three decks, one door. He announces the flood, and in the same breath the first covenant in Scripture — "I will establish my covenant with you" — with instructions to bring his family, pairs of every living thing, and food for all of them. The section ends with one sentence: thus Noah did; he did all that God commanded him.
13 God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth. 14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels. 17 I, even I, will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is on the earth will die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive. 21 Take with you some of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).