Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 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.”
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Genesis 6:6-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh 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. Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 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.” But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
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.”
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And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
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And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.
And the LORD said: 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.'
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Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (41)
- Isaiah 63:10 (v6) But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
- 1 Samuel 15:11 (v6) “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel…
- Ephesians 4:30 (v6) Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- 1 Samuel 15:29 (v6) Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
- Hebrews 3:10 (v6) Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’
Show all 41 cross-references
- Zephaniah 1:3 (v7) I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I…
- 2 Samuel 24:16 (v6) When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed…
- Psalms 37:20 (v7) But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish— vanish like smoke.
- Jonah 3:10 (v6) God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do…
- Numbers 23:19 (v6) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and…
- Exodus 32:14 (v6) So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.
- Jeremiah 18:8-10 (v6) if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. At the…
- Joel 2:13 (v6) Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in…
- Luke 19:41-42 (v6) When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But…
- 1 Samuel 15:35 (v6) Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Yahweh grieved that he had made Saul king over…
- Ezekiel 33:11 (v6) Tell them, ‘ “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and…
- Romans 3:20-22 (v7) Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart…
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 (v6) God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the…
- Psalms 24:1-2 (v7) The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it. For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on…
- Proverbs 10:27 (v7) The fear of Yahweh prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
- Proverbs 16:4 (v7) Yahweh has made everything for its own end— yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.
- Jeremiah 12:3-4 (v7) But you, Yahweh, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the…
- Jeremiah 26:19 (v6) Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Yahweh, and entreat the favor of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of…
- Deuteronomy 5:29 (v6) Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and…
- Deuteronomy 32:29 (v6) Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
- Deuteronomy 32:36 (v6) For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one…
- Psalms 106:45 (v6) He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
- Isaiah 48:18 (v6) Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
- Jeremiah 4:22-27 (v7) “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil,…
- Hosea 4:3 (v7) Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field…
- Psalms 78:40 (v6) How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
- Psalms 81:13 (v6) Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
- Psalms 95:10 (v6) Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”
- Psalms 110:4 (v6) Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- Psalms 119:158 (v6) I look at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word.
- Hosea 11:8 (v6) “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart…
- Hebrews 6:17-18 (v6) In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an…
- James 1:17 (v6) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
- Malachi 3:6 (v6) “For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
- Romans 11:29 (v6) For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
- Hebrews 3:17 (v6) With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6–7 6. And it repented the Lord that he had…
6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth The repentance which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him, but has reference to our understanding of him. For since we cannot comprehend him as he is, it is necessary that, for our sakes he should, in a certain sense, transform himself. That repentance cannot take place in God, easily appears from this single considerations that nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen. The same reasoning, and remark, applies to what follows, that God was affected with grief. Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad; but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose: yet, because it could not otherwise be known how great is God’s hatred and detestation of sin, therefore the Spirit accommodates himself to our capacity. Wherefore, there is no need for us to involve ourselves in thorny and difficult questions, when it is obvious to what end these words of repentance and grief are applied; namely, to teach us, that from the time when man was so greatly corrupted, God would not reckon him among his creatures; as if he would say, ‘This is not my workmanship; this is not that man who was formed in my image, and whom I had adorned with such excellent gifts: I do not deign now to acknowledge this degenerate and defiled creature as mine.’ Similar to this is what he says, in the second place, concerning grief; that God was so offended by the atrocious wickedness of men, as if they had wounded his heart with mortal grief: There is here, therefore, an unexpressed antithesis between that upright nature which had been created by God, and that corruption which sprung from sin. Meanwhile, unless we wish to provoke God, and to put him to grief, let us learn to abhor and to flee from sin. Moreover, this paternal goodness and tenderness ought, in no slight degree, to subdue in us the love of sin; since God, in order more effectually to pierce our hearts, clothes himself with our affections. This figure, which represents God as transferring to himself what is peculiar to human nature, is called ἀνθρωποπάθεια
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6–7 God doth never repent, but he speaketh after our…
God doth never repent, but he speaketh after our capacity, because he did destroy him, and in that as it were did disavow him to be his creature.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–7 Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he…
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Ver. 6. And it repented the Lord, &c., and it grieved him.] These things are spoken of God ανθρωποπαθως, after the manner of men; but must be taken and understood θεοσπρεπως, as it beseemeth God. When repentance is attributed to God, saith Mr Perkins, it noteth only the alteration of things and actions done by him, and no change of his purpose and secret decree, which is immutable. God’s repentance, saith another learned divine, {a} is not a change of his will, but of his work. Repentance with man is the changing of his will; repentance with God is the willing of a change. Mutatio rei, non Dei; effectus, non affectus; facti, non confilii .
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{a} Mr Gataker.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv6–7 Properly God cannot repent, Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:11, 29,…
Properly God cannot repent, Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:11, 29, because he is unchangeable in his nature and counsels, Mal 3:6; Jam 1:17, and perfectly wise, and constantly happy, and therefore not liable to any grief or disappointment. But this is spoken of God after the manner of man, by a common figure called anthropopathia, whereby also eyes, ears, hands, nose, &c. are ascribed to God; and it signifies an alienation of God's heart and affections from men for their wickedness, whereby God carries himself towards them like one that is truly penitent and grieved, destroying the work of his own hands.
It grieved him at his heart, or, at his very soul, i.e. exceedingly.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v6 Here is, I. God's resentment of man's wickedness. He…
Here is, I. God's resentment of man's wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child, which not only angers him, but grieves him, and makes him wish he had been written childless. The expressions here used are very strange: It repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, that he had made a creature of such noble powers and faculties, and had put him on this earth, which he built and furnished on purpose to be a convenient, comfortable, habitation for him; and it grieved him at his heart. These are expressions after the manner of men, and must be understood so as not to reflect upon the honour of God's immutability or felicity. 1. This language does not imply any passion or uneasiness in God (nothing can create disturbance to the Eternal Mind), but it expresses his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners, against sin as odious to his holiness and against sinners as obnoxious to his justice. He is pressed by the sins of his creatures (Amo 2:13), wearied (Isa 43:24), broken (Eze 6:9), grieved (Psa 95:10), and here grieved to the heart, as men are when they are wronged and abused by those they have been very kind to, and therefore repent of their kindness, and wish they had never fostered that snake in their bosom which now hisses in their face and stings them to the heart. Does God thus hate sin? And shall we not hate it? Has our sin grieved him to the heart? And shall we not be grieved and pricked to the heart for it? O that this consideration may humble us and shame us, and that we may look on him whom we have thus grieved, and mourn! Zac 12:10. 2. It does not imply any change of God's mind; for he is in one mind, and who can turn him? With him there is not variableness. But it expressed a change of his way. When God had made man upright, he rested and was refreshed (Exo 31:17), and his way towards him was such as showed he was pleased with the work of his own hands; but, now that man had apostatized, he could not do otherwise than show himself displeased; so that the change was in man, not in God. God repented that he had made man; but we never find him repenting that he redeemed man (though that was a work of much greater expense), because special and effectual grace is given to secure the great ends of redemption; so that those gifts and callings are without repentance, Rom 11:29.
II. God's resolution to destroy man for his wickedness, Gen 6:7. Observe, 1. When God repented that he had made man, he resolved to destroy man. Thus those that truly repent of sin will resolve, in the strength of God's grace, to mortify sin and to destroy it, and so to undo what they have done amiss. We do but mock God in saying that we are sorry for our sin, and that it grieves us to the heart, if we continue to indulge it. In vain do we pretend a change of our mind if we do not evidence it by a change of our way. 2. He resolves to destroy man. The original word is very significant: I will wipe off man from the earth (so some), as dirt or filth is wiped off from a place which should be clean, and is thrown to the dunghill, the proper place for it. See Kg2 21:13. Those that are the spots of the places they live in are justly wiped away by the judgments of God. I will blot out man from the earth (so others), as those lines which displease the author are blotted out a book, or as the name of a citizen is blotted out of the rolls of the freemen, when he is dead or disfranchised. 3. He speaks of man as his own creature even when he resolves upon his ruin: Man whom I have created. "Though I have created him, this shall not excuse him," Isa 27:11. He that made him will not save him; he that is our Creator, if he be not our ruler, will be our destroyer. Or, "Because I have created him, and he has been so undutiful and ungrateful to his Creator, therefore I will destroy him:" those forfeit their lives that do not answer the end of their living. 4. Even the brute-creatures were to be involved in this destruction - Beasts, and creeping things, and the fowls of the air. These were made for man, and therefore must be destroyed with man; for it follows: It repenteth me that I have made them; for the end of their creation also was frustrated. They were made that man might serve and honour God with them; and therefore were destroyed because he had served his lusts with them, and made them subject to vanity. 5. God took up this resolution concerning man after his Spirit had been long striving with him in vain. None are ruined by the justice of God but those that hate to be reformed by the grace of God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–7 And it repented the Lord that he had made…
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,.... Because of the wickedness of man, the wickedness of his heart, and the wickedness of his life and conversation, which was so general, and increased to such a degree, that it was intolerable; wherefore God could have wished, as it were, that he had never made him, since he proved so bad; not that repentance, properly speaking, can fall upon God, for he never changes his mind or alters his purposes, though he sometimes changes the course and dispensations of his providence. This is speaking by an anthropopathy, after the manner of men, because God determined to do, and did something similar to men, when they repent of anything: as a potter, when he has formed a vessel that does not please him, and he repents that he has made it, he takes it and breaks it in pieces; and so God, because of man's wickedness, and to show his aversion to it, and displicency at it, repented of his making him; that is, he resolved within himself to destroy him, as in the next verse, which explains this:
and it grieved him at his heart; this is to be understood by the same figure as before, for there can, no more be any uneasiness in his mind than a change in it; for God is a simple Being, uncompounded, and not subject to any passions and affections. This is said to observe his great hatred to sin, and abhorrence of it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6–7 And it repented the Lord that he had made…
And it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth - That he had made a creature of such noble powers, and had put him on this earth, which he built and furnished on purpose to be a comfortable habitation for him; and it grieved him at his heart - These are expressions after the manner of men, and must be understood so as not to reflect upon God's immutability or felicity. It doth not speak any passion or uneasiness in God, nothing can create disturbance to the eternal mind; but it speaks his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners: neither doth it speak any change of God's mind; for with him there is no variableness; but it speaks a change of his way. When God had made man upright, he rested and was refreshed, Exod. xxxi, 17. and his way towards him was such as shewed him well pleased with the work of his own hands; but now man was apostatized, he could not do otherwise, but shew himself displeased; so that the change was in man, not in God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6–7 Gen 6:6. It repented the Lord, it grieved him…
Gen 6:6. It repented the Lord, it grieved him at his heart — Properly speaking, God cannot repent, Num 23:19, 1Sa 15:11-29; for he is perfectly wise and unchangeable in his nature and counsels, Mal 3:6, and Jas 1:17. Neither is he liable to grief or disappointment, being constantly happy. But this is spoken of God after the manner of men, by the same figure of speech whereby eyes, ears, hands, and feet are ascribed to God, and must be understood so as not to reflect on his immutability or felicity. It doth not imply any passion or uneasiness in God; for nothing can create disturbance to the eternal mind: but it signifies his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners. Neither doth it speak any change of God’s mind, for with him is no variableness; but it signifies a change of his way. When God had made man upright, he rested and was refreshed, Exo 31:17, and his way toward him was such as showed him to be well pleased with the work of his own hands; but now that man was apostatized, he could not do otherwise than show himself displeased: so that the change was in man, and not in God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v6 It repented him, &c. God, who is unchangeable, is…
It repented him, &c. God, who is unchangeable, is not capable of repentance, grief, or any other passion. But these expressions are used to declare the enormity of the sins of men, which was so provoking as to determine their Creator to destroy these his creatures, whom before he had so much favoured. (Challoner) --- God acted outwardly as a man would do who repented. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6–7 6. It repented the Lord — The pain of…
6. It repented the Lord — The pain of the divine love at man’s sin is thus tenderly and forcibly set forth; explained more fully by the following words:
It grieved him at his heart — Or rather, He grieved himself to the heart. A beautiful picture of God’s tenderness, yearning over the sinful child who had so fearfully corrupted his way and befouled the earth (made “very good” for him) by abominable wickedness. God’s acts and purposes are here, as everywhere, necessarily described in human words, which can only in a figurative sense be applied to Him whose ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts. Repentance appears no more at variance with immutability, when we look closely into the matter, than any divine act, purpose, or resolve that is revealed. As in man all such mental acts and states involve the idea of change, it is impossible for us to reconcile them with immutability. But all revelation is a condescension to human weakness, a clothing of divine thoughts in human draperies, for thus only could it be of any value to man. So God, the Infinite, imprisons himself in time and space that he may talk with the child who dwells there. It is the condescension of all instruction, wherein the teacher must come down to the plane of the pupil, and adapt himself to his thoughts and feelings in order to convey the lessons of wisdom. In fact, absolute truth in regard to supernatural things can be conveyed to man only in negations; that is, it can only be said that the supernatural facts are not like the natural. But absolute truths like these are pointless, soulless, and spiritually profitless, and, therefore, God gives us relative truths that are positive to meet the deep religious wants of the soul. But he gives us the negative absolute truths also, in order that we may see that the affirmative truths are only relative. Thus of the spirits of the just made perfect it is said “they neither marry nor are given in marriage,” and, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones,” while yet these saints hold harps, sing songs, wear robes and crowns, and dwell in a city made of precious metals and precious stones. God is described, in this relative language of imagery, as having a human form, yea, even human eyes, and hands, and feet, and, as in this passage, human voice and thoughts; yet the absolute truth is also revealed to correct and modify the relative. “Ye saw no manner of form;” “God is a spirit;” “the ETERNAL ONE of Israel… is not a man that he should repent.” 1Sa_15:29. This is a paradox, but it is the paradox of revelation. He who understands its spirit can believe that they saw the God of Israel, (Exo_24:10,) while yet no man hath seen God at any time, and feel that there is no contradiction.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–7 6. And it repented the Lord … grieved him…
6. And it repented the Lord … grieved him at his heart] This is a strong instance of what is called anthropomorphism, an expression descriptive of human emotion or action ascribed to Jehovah (e.g. Gen_3:8, Gen_7:16, Gen_8:21). Such expressions have often given rise to superficial criticisms, depreciatory of Holy Scripture, on the part both of those who are ignorant of Oriental literature, and of those who assume that the Books of Holy Scripture must be free from the literary characteristics of the writers’ age and nationality. In this verse Jehovah is represented as intensely grieved at the frustration of His purposes for the human race. The description is given in the childlike simplicity of the language of an early age: compare Gen_11:5-6; Gen_18:21.
In other passages, e.g. Num_23:19, 1Sa_15:29, it is asserted that Jehovah is not, like man, capable of repentance. There are two representations in Holy Scripture of the Divine Nature: one, which, as here, makes the Divine Purpose fluctuate, in reflexion, as it were, of man’s changing experiences; the other, which depicts the Divine Purpose as uniform, changeless, and unvarying, cf. Jas_1:17.
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It was the dread of any expression being liable to the suspicion of irreverence towards the Almighty, which led to the strange renderings of this verse by the later Jews. Thus, LXX renders “repented” by ἐνεθυμήθη = “considered,” and “grieved” by διενοήθη = “purposed,” while the Targum of Onkelos renders the second clause “and spake by his word to break their strength according to his will,” and Pseudo-Jonathan, “and disputed with his word concerning them.” The object of such paraphrases is to avoid anthropomorphism. The LXX also avoids the expression of repentance as applied to God in Exo_32:12.
The Latin rendering is quite free from any such shrinking, and is noteworthy: poenituit eum et tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–7 (6) And it repented the Lord.—If we begin with…
(6) And it repented the Lord.—If we begin with the omniscience and omnipotence of God as our postulates, everything upon earth must be predestined and immutably fore-ordained. If we start with man’s free will, everything will depend upon human choice and action. Both these sides must be true, though our mental powers are too limited to combine them. In Holy Scripture the latter view is kept more prominently in the foreground, because upon it depends human responsibility. Thus here, the overwhelming of mankind by a flood, and the subsequent abbreviation of life, is set before our eyes as painful to the Deity, and contrary to His goodwill towards men, but as necessitated by the extreme depravity of even the chosen Sethite race.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–7 And it repented the Lord. Yinnahem; from naham, to…
And it repented the Lord. Yinnahem; from naham, to pant, to groan; Niph., to lament, to grieve bemuse of the misery of others, also because of one"s own actions; whence to repent (cf. German, rouen; English, rue: Gesenius); =" it grieved him at his heart." "Verbum nostae pravitatae accommodatum" (Chrysostom); "non est perturbatio, sod judicium, quo irrogatur pinna;" and again, "poenitudo Dei est mutandorum immutabilis ratio" (Augustine). "Deus est immutabilis; sed cum ii, quos eurat, mutantur, murat ipse res, prout ils expedit quos eurat" (Justin Martyr: Latin Version). The repentance here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him, but has reference to our understanding of him (Calvin). "The repentance of God does not presuppose any variableness in his nature or purposes" Keil). "A peculiarly strong anthropathic expression, which, however, presents the truth that God, in consistency with his immutability, assumes a changed position in respect to changed man" (Lange). That he had made man on the earth. i.e. that he had created man at all, and in particular that he had settled him on the earth. And it grieved him at his heart. A touching indication that God did not hate man, and a clear proof that, though the Divine purpose is immutable, the Divine nature is not impassible.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v6 repented the LORD
repented the LORD
(See Scofield "Zec 8:14").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 I will wipe away mankind ... from the surface…
I will wipe away mankind ... from the surface of the earth
The writer speaks of God killing people as if God were wiping dirt off a flat surface. AT: "I will destroy mankind ... so that there will not be any people on the earth" (See: Metaphor)
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I will wipe away mankind whom I have created
Some languages would need to translate this as two sentences. AT: "I created mankind. I will wipe them away" (See: Distinguishing versus Informing or Reminding)
wipe away
"completely destroy." Here "wipe away" is used in a negative sense, for God is talking about destroying the people because of their sin.
Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh
The phrase "found favor" is an idiom which means to be approved of by someone. Also, the eyes represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. AT: "Yahweh looked favorably on Noah" or "Yahweh was pleased with Noah" (See: Idiom and Metaphor)
translationWords
Yahweh
Noah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6–7 6:6 the Lord was sorry: The extent of human…
6:6 the Lord was sorry: The extent of human wickedness made the Lord regret having created them (see also 6:7; cp. 1 Sam 15:11, 35). • It broke his heart: The evil in humanity’s heart (Gen 6:5) pained God greatly. Sending the flood was a heart-wrenching act on God’s part.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.