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Genesis 6

Genesis 6 sets God’s grief and judgment over human corruption alongside his favor toward Noah and his provision for preserving life.

The earth is filling with people, and God sees corruption reaching into human thought and spreading through violence. Grieved by what humanity has become, he announces destruction. Noah, however, finds favor with God and is described as righteous, walking with him. God tells Noah that a flood is coming and gives instructions for a ship to preserve his household and living creatures. He promises a covenant, and Noah does all that God commands.

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2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
3The LORD 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 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.
5The LORD 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.
6The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
7The LORD 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 the LORD’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.
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.
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 on 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.
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Key verses
Genesis 6:5God’s assessment reaches beneath public violence to the thoughts of the human heart, establishing the grounds for judgment.
Genesis 6:9Noah’s righteousness and walk with God stand out against the corruption that fills the earth.
Genesis 6:2These marriages open the account of growing corruption, though the identity of God’s sons remains debated.
Where this chapter reaches

Jeremiah shares this chapter’s concern with the corruption of the human heart, while Matthew recalls Noah’s days in teaching about coming judgment. Hebrews returns to Noah’s preparation of the ship, describing his response to God’s warning in terms of faith and obedience.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about God’s grief when you read it alongside his decision to judge?

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How does Noah’s obedience take shape in the concrete tasks God assigns him?

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Questions people ask about Genesis 6

Who are God’s sons in Genesis 6?

Their identity is disputed. Common readings understand them as heavenly beings, men from a godly family line, or rulers who claimed divine status. Genesis 6 describes their marriages to human women without explaining their identity. The passage then moves to God’s assessment of widespread human evil.

Why was God sorry that he made humanity?

Verse 6 describes God’s grief over the evil he sees in humanity. It follows the account of corrupt human thoughts and leads into his announcement of judgment. The passage presents God’s sorrow as real, without explaining how that sorrow relates to his knowledge of all things.

What do the 120 years mean in Genesis 6:3?

The statement has two main interpretations: a limit on human lifespan or a period remaining before the flood. Its placement before the flood warning supports the second reading, while its wording about human days supports the first. Genesis 6 does not settle the question beyond dispute.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).