1When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were in 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.
5Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. 6Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 7Yahweh 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.” 8But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
9This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 10Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13God 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. 14Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 15This 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. 16You 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. 17I, 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 in the earth will die. 18But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19Of 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. 20Of 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. 21Take 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.” 22Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.
Genesis 6:6 records God’s response to the rapidly growing problem of sin in the world He had created. The main problem of this verse has to do with the first word (nḥm), often translated “The LORD was sorry that He had made man” (ESV, NASB, NRSV). Most notably, the King James Version rendered this verse, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man,” making it sound as though God had suddenly realized that creating the world had been a bad idea.
From the broader Semitic context, the literal sense of this verbal root in Arabic (nḥ/ḫm) refers to the deep gasp of a horse.[1] In Christian Palestinian Aramaic the same root expresses remorse or regret, apparently a more figurative development of the former.[2] In Syriac nḥm means “to raise (the dead), raise (to life)” wherein it denotes a change of state from death to life.[3] This last meaning relates to the biblical usage where God is said to change his course of action in response to humankind.
In the Old Testament this particular form of the verbal root nḥm is most usually used of God in his response to humanity, highlighting the emotional side of His actions. In these contexts, God emotionally responds to the actions of men in a way that is consistent with His own nature and should not be thought of as God simply changing His mind. Instead, God responds in accordance with His revealed will, depending on the circumstances which warrant divine attention. Consequently, this response does not necessitate judgment (as in Gen. 6:6) but can also result in restored favor, as when God relents from destroying the people of Israel in light of Moses’ entreaty on their behalf (Exod. 32:14; cf. Ps. 90:13).
[1] William Lane, Arabic-English Dictionary (London: Willams and Norgate, 1863), 3029; cf. Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (Spoken Language Services, 1976), 948.
[2] Michael Sokoloff, Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (Baltimore: John’s Hopkins University Press, 2003), 346a.
[3] J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (Oxford, 1902), 335.