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1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 that the sons of God[a] saw the daughters of men, that they were fair[b]; and they took for themselves wives from among anyone they saw fit[c].

3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with[a] man forever, for he is also flesh; yet shall his days be numbered a hundred and twenty years.”

4 Now giants[a] were upon the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God[b] took the daughters of men, who brought forth children unto them; they were the mighty men, which in olden times were men of renown.

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man had gripped the earth, and that everything they thought and planned was evil.

6 And it repented the LORD that he had made Man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

7 And the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; from man to beast and creeping thing, to birds of the air[a]; for I repent that I have made them.”

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.

10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God saw the earth, and beheld it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth,

13 And God said untto Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

14 “Make an ark of gopher wood; with rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.”

15 “And this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.”

16 “You shall make a roof on top of the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door in the side of the ship. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.”

17 “And I behold, I am bringing the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on earth shall die.”

18 “But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.”

19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall you bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.”

20 “Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.”

21 “Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you, and for them.”

22 Thus did Noah: According to all that God commanded him, so he did.

[2a] The judges (see cr.)

[2b] In marriage gown; during marriage ceremony; the King's right of 'first night'. Upon seeing such a damsel the King would take her for his own wife against the wishes of the families.

[2c] To illustrate the depths of depravity we read 'And they saw.. and (yet so still) they chose 'from anyone' meaning, even from among the animals.

[3] “shall not strive against man” – My Spirit shall not be in a state of discontent and shall not strive with Myself because of man.

“forever” – for a long time. i.e. “Behold, My Spirit has been contending within Me whether to destroy or whether to show mercy: such contending (deliberation) shall not be forever — meaning, for a long time.”

“for he is also flesh” – that is to say: because this quality is also in him viz., that he is only flesh, and yet he does not humble himself before Me; what would he do if he were of fire or of some other resisting matter! Similarly we find שַׁ for שָׁ, (Judges 5:7) עד שַׁקמתי דבורה “Until I Deborah arose”, where it is the same as שָׁקמתי; so also (Judges 6:17) שַׁאתה מדבר עמי “that it is thou who talkest with me”, where it is the same as שָׁאתה — so also here.

“yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years” – For 120 years I will be long-suffering with them, and if they repent not I shall bring a flood upon them. If, now, you object, saying that from the birth of Japheth until the Flood there were only 100 years, remember that there is no “earlier” or “later” in the Torah (events are not always related in chronological order) (Pesachim 6b): the decree (regarding the Flood) was issued twenty years before Noah had any children — so we find in Seder Olam. There are many Midrashic explanations of the words but this is transparently its plain sense.

To those who say this was written to limit the lifespan of men to 120 years, may I point out that Abraham later lived to 175 years, Issac died at 180, and Jacob at 147. Peleg lived over 200 years, as did many others. So this verse cannot be taken to say that God limited man's lifespan on earth. Man's life is limited by his amount of sin and his distance from God (Adam lived over 900 years, as did Noah). Shem lived to 600 years, as well, and even Ishmael lived to over 120, to 137 years old!

[4a] giants, read “The Nephilim”. Who were the nephilim? The KJV does not make this clear, because it does not understand “and also after that” to refer to Enoch's flood. However if you read 1-2 and the rest of 4 you can somewhat make it out; the children were the giants; the kings and queens from 1-2.

[4b] sons of rulers (see [2a]).

[6a] “Sons of Elohim” — The sons of princes and rulers (Genesis Rabbah 26:15). Here 'elohim' signifies power and authority; for reference see Exodus 4:16 “and thou shalt be his master[’ĕ·lō·hîm]”, Exodus 7:1 “nə·ṯat·tî·ḵā ’ĕ·lō·hîm lə·p̄ar·‘ōh;” (…I have made you a master over Pharoh…) unless one really thinks that God made modes God, this is the only possible reading.

Please note this also complies fully with the Christian reading of the verse! Ex. John Gill's “…as Onkelos paraphrases it; “for a prince”, and so Jarchi, a civil magistrate, one that had the power of life and death; the administration of civil affairs belonged to Moses, and Aaron, though the elder brother, was subject to him; and in this sense Moses was a god to him; and so in after times, the judges of Israel, they that sat in Moses's chair, were called gods, (Psalms 82:1).” and also in the well-known Parable of John 10:33 which illustrates the Christian position: “33 The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, “I said, Ye are gods?”[Psalm 82:6] 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came …” Therefore, while it is popular to state among Christians that it was Angels or Demons who were the Nephilim, this is borne untrue by a study of the bible. Also see: Psalm 138:1,

[6b] Ex. When the kings or lords would see a fair maiden (one who was decked out in preparation for marriage) he would come and take her, even under her own marriage canopy.

[6c] “from among whom they saw fit,” meaning from among whom they the depraved saw fit; “even if it were a married woman or a man or an animal” (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).

[7] “haš·šā·mā·yim”, or “heavens” but I think “birds of the air” sounds a bit better here. But it's the same word as used previously for heavens.

[9] The generation (progeny) of Noah are all those who are righteous; all those who walk with God (Genesis Rabbah 30:6) and the descendants of righteous people are good deeds.

[12] Some animals had intermingled outside of their species; this is why God commanded Noah to take them in pairs, male and female, and after their kind.

[14] GNV. pine, NIV, NET cypress. “Gopher” is a transliteration of the Hebrew, the type of wood is not known; but the Jewish Encyclopedia states it was most likely a translation of the Babylonian “gushure” (cedar beams). The Targum Onkelos renders this word as “qadros” (cedar).

[22] Thus did Noah.. according to what he was told (no more and no less).