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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 [17]5 years, Issac died at [18]0, 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).

[6] 'repented' – see v.6 Rashi

[7] 'repented' – see v.6 Rashi

[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).

What is the context of Genesis 6? Genesis chapter 6 is there to explain why there is going to be a flood – that's how it begins. Why mankind is going to be destroyed and the future of mankind will continue through a man, named Noah.

Then we see the cause of this destruction. If the sin which caused this destruction was from Angels, then the entire story doesn't make any sense, because no angels were destroyed in the flood. We see this expressed clearly in the verses themselves. In verse 4 itself, in verse 3 and 5 surrounding it, and in the other verses nearby, all of the statements are regarding mankind.

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

First off, in verse four, the so-called “creatures” who were the product of this were men. The problem is that people read “sons of God” or “giants” and assume something decidedly spiritual is going on. This is utterly false and the source is the bible itself. All throughout the bible human beings are referred to as the “son(s) of God”. Even Jesus says that the judges of the time are known as “sons of god” by quoting Psalms 82:6.

Other places where this phrase appears are, for example, in Psalms 29:1. In Exodus 7:1 Moses himself is called by a similar name. But on the topic of Judges, not only are they referred to by this name in Psalm 82:6, we find they are referred to by this name in Exodus 21:6 and 22:8– and even Christians should be very familiar with because it is quoted in Hebrews 2:7! Therefore for these scriptural reasons it is not plausible to take the terms Nephilim, etc. as spiritual beings, but rather the author's intent is to refer to the kings and rulers of the earth at the time.

Secondly, David and Goliath is a story whereby a giant was found among the philistines. Today, we currently have Sultan Kösen who was born in 1982 and stands 8 feet 2.82 inches tall. And he is only the tallest man alive today. Many people in history, even recent history, have been much taller. So while you have people since the 80s – like Vikas Uppal – 8 ft 3 in, Don Koehler – 8 ft 2 in, or go back a hundred years and you see Edouard Beaupré – 8 ft 3 in, Bernard Coyne – 8 ft 2, or Väinö Myllyrinne – 8 ft 3 in – you also have people like John F. Carroll – 8 ft 7.5 in, John Rogan – 8 ft 9 in, and Robert Wadlow – 8 ft 11 in. These are just a selection of the tallest people we know from the last 100-150 years. It is almost certain that in history there were people even taller. The point is that it is not unusual for people to be extremely tall or appear large – such as the well known and respected man Andre – André René Roussimoff. And he was only 7 foot 4, 520 pounds.

So ultimately without an actual verse from scripture to show these were angels, we must go with the idea that they were men. But furthermore, look at the surrounding verses, as mentioned above:

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.”

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

In verse 3 we see the point of this is that God would not strive with man, precisely because he is flesh. And in verse 5, we see that it is indeed the wickedness of men which had gripped the earth, which is therefore why men, and all flesh, had to be removed.

Thus the context of Genesis 6 is that punishment would be levied against flesh – against Men – and that it would have nothing to do with angels. In conclusion, it makes absolutely no sense that angels were involved, even fallen angels, and it would have been the greatest blunder in all creation then if it were the Angels that sinned and then God turned around and punished humans for it. It would have accomplished nothing, and therefore (and mainly from the plain reading of the text) we reject the idea of nephilim being fallen angels.

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.

Whenever this issue is brought up it is almost universally done so to attack the credibility of the Torah in the following way; the A. states that our conception of God does not allow him to repent. Usually it is phrased as something like,

• “If God knows everything, how was he unaware of the pre-flood fall of Man?”

This issue is in fact over 2,000 years old as it is represented well in the Mishnah (see Rashi v.6). The problem then is that the issue is well-known, and the A. (asker, or atheist) must be aware of the explanation. The question is then, does he accept the answer or does he shift his position to deny it on other grounds, and what those grounds may be.

Let us defer to Rashi on the accepted Jewish answer for this. From here, we can look at the text and notice something interesting. God does not actually repent from the creation of Man from upon the earth in the sense that he “made a mistake” in creating Man – we see that in fact Noah found favor with God and that God chose to restart the population from the generations of Noah; (a reference to righteous people; “these are the generations of Noah…”). This is in fact a theme we see frequently in the Hebrew scriptures and is one of the reasons why God is known forever as the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – because there was a process of selection of the righteous that had gone on, from Adam, through Shem, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so forth, which eventually produced the nation of Israel that was finally able to accept the Torah.

The story of Noah appears in Genesis 6 to 9. In Genesis 5:28-32 we see the introduction of Noah and in Chapter 6 we see the Torah zoom in to focus solely on Noah's life and times. This is an indication that Noah is the central figure of the time.

What is written about Noah's righteousness?

1. The prophecy of Lamech (Genesis 5:29) is that Noah will provide comfort against the curse of Adam ('in the work and the toil of our hands on the earth,' – which is the only curse given to Adam).

2. The statements a, b, c and d as follows:

• a) These are the generations of Noah:
• b) Noah was a righteous man,
• c) and perfect in his generations:
• d) Noah walked with God.

These are not separate statements but qualified statements. It means, “The generations (plural) of Noah are those who are righteous (as was Noah),” and “Noah was perfect in his generations (plural), (because), he walked with God.” It could also be taken to mean that Noah was righteous in the context of his generation, such as he was more righteous than anyone else, or, that he was righteous despite that everyone else was evil – i.e. that despite the difficulties of living in a society antagonistic to God, he was still able to remain righteous.

Selected commentary.

[2] h.בני האלהים THE SONS OF ELOHIM — The sons of princes and rulers (Genesis Rabbah 26:15). Another explanation of בני האלהים is that these were princely angels who came as messengers from God: they, too, intermingled with them (the daughters of men). Wherever the word אלהים occurs in the Scriptures it signifies authority, and the following passages prove this: (Exodus 4:16) “and thou shalt be his (אלהים) master”, and (Exodus 7:1) “See, I have made the (אלהים) a master.”

h.כי טבת הנה THAT THEY WERE FAIR — Rabbi Judan said, “It is written here טבת, for when they were being made to appear “good” by being decked out to be taken beneath the marriage canopy one of the lords would come and carry her off first (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).

h.מכל אשר בחרו OF ALL WHOM THEY CHOOSE — even if it were a married woman or a man or an animal (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).

[3] h.לא ידון רוחי באדם MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT STRIVE AGAINST MAN — My Spirit shall not be in a state of discontent and shall not strive with Myself because of man.

h.לעולם ALWAYS — for a long time. 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.

h.בשגם הוא בשר FOR THAT HE ALSO IS FLESH — This is the same as בְּשָׁגַּם — 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.

h.והיו ימיו וגו THEREFORE HIS DAYS SHALL BE etc. — 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 לא ידון but this is transparently its plain sense.

[4] h.הנפילים THE GIANTS — Thy were called נפילים because they fell (נפלו) and caused the downfall of (הפילו) the world (Genesis Rabbah 26:7). In Hebrew the giants are usually called בימים ההם

h.ענקים IN THOSE DAYS — In the days of the generations of Enosh and the sons of Cain (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).

h.וגם אחרי כן AND ALSO AFTER THAT — Although they witnessed the destruction of the generation of Enosh when the Ocean rose and flooded a third part of the world, yet the generation of the Flood did not humble itself and take a lesson from them (Genesis Rabbah 26).

h.אשר יבאו WHEN [THE SONS OF GOD] CAME IN, they (the women) bore children, giants like them (the fathers) (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).

h.הגבורים MIGHTY — in rebellion against God.

h.אנשי שם MEN OF RENOWN (literally, men of name) — Men who bore distinctive names: עירד, מחויאל, מתושאל being so named because these names have reference to their destruction, for they were wiped out and torn out from the world (מחוי-אל would signify “wiped-out-by-God”, מתושאל “Torn-out-by-God). Another explanation is that they were men of devastation (אנשי שם-מון) — who devastated the world (Genesis Rabbah 26:7).

[6] h.וינחם ה' כי עשה AND THE LORD REPENTED THAT HE HAD MADE — (The first word is connected with that which means “comfort”) It was a consolation to Him that He had created man on earth, for had he been one of the heavenly beings he would have incited them also to rebel against God (Genesis Rabbah 27:4).

h.ויתעצב GRIEVED HIM — means, in the mind of God man became an object to be troubled (punished): it entered God’s heart to grieve him. This is how the Targum of Onkelos understands the verse. Another explanation of verse 6: וינחם AND [THE LORD] REPENTED — The thoughts of God turned from Divine mercy to Divine justice: He considered what to do with man whom He had made on the earth. Wherever this term is used in the Scripture it means “considering what to do”. Examples are: (Numbers [18]:19) “nor the son of man that He should consider (ויתנחם)”; (Deuteronomy 32:36) “and reconsider (ויתנחם) regarding His servants”; (Exodus 22:14) “and the Lord reconsidered (וינחם) regarding the evil”; (1 Samuel 15:2) “I am reconsidering (נחמתי) that I have set up Saul to be king” — all these passages denote a change of mind.

h.ויתעצב אל לבו AND IT GRIEVED HIM AT HIS HEART— He mourned at the failure of His handiwork. Similarly (2 Samuel [19]:3) ‘The king grieved (נעצב) for his son”. (Similarly here: God grieved for his (man’s) heart: that it had changed from good to bad). The following extract from the Midrash Rabbah I am writing in order that you may know how to refute the arguments of certain heretics: A gentile once asked Rabbi Joshua, the son of Korcha, saying to him, “Do you not admit that the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what is to happen in the future?” He replied, “Yes.” The gentile retorted, “But is it not written ‘and He was grieved in His heart’?” He answered: “Have you ever had a son born to you?” The reply was “Yes.” He asked (the gentile): “And what did you do?” He replied: “I rejoiced and I made others rejoice also.” The Rabbi asked him: “But did you not know that he must die?” The heathen replied: “At the time of joy, let there be joy, at the time of mourning let there be mourning”. The Rabbi then said: “Such, too, is the way of the Holy One, blessed be He: although it was clear to Him that in the end men would sin and would be destroyed, He did not refrain from creating them for the sake of the righteous men who were to issue from them” (Genesis Rabbah 27:4).

[7] h.ויאמר ה' אמחה את האדם AND GOD SAID I WILL BLOT OUT THE MAN — He is dust and I shall bring water upon him and blot him out: that is why this root מחה is used (it expresses the idea of sponging out by means of wet or dampness) (Genesis Rabbah 28:2).

h.מאדם ועד בהמה — FROM MAN, TO BEAST — These also corrupted their way (Genesis Rabbah 28:8). Another explanation is: All things were created on man’s account; when he ceases to be, what need of them? (Sanhedrin 108a)

h.כי נחמתי כי עשיתים means for I have thought out what to do because I have made them. (Cf. this with Rashi’s second explanation of וינחם 5:6).

[9] h.אלה תולדת נח נח איש צדיק THESE ARE THE PROGENY OF NOAH: NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN — Since the text mentions him it sings his praise, in accordance with what is said, (Proverbs 10:7) “The mention of the righteous shall be for a blessing.” Another explanation is: since after stating “These are the progeny of Noah”, it does not at once mention the names of his children but declares that he “was a righteous man”, Scripture thereby teaches you that the real progeny of righteous people are their good deeds (Genesis Rabbah 30:6).

h.בדורותיו IN HIS GENERATIONS — Some of our Rabbis explain it (this word) to his credit: he was righteous even in his generation; it follows that had he lived in a generation of righteous people he would have been even more righteous owing to the force of good example. Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation he was accounted righteous, but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance (cf. Sanhedrin 108a).

h.את האלהים התהלך נח NOAH WALKED WITH GOD — In the case of Abraham Scripture says, (Genesis 24:40) ‘‘[God] before whom I walked”; Noah needed God’s support to uphold him in righteousness, Abraham drew his moral strength from himself and walked in his righteousness by his own effort (Genesis Rabbah 30:10).

h.התהלך HE WALKED — This word is in the past tense. The following is the usage of this verbal form: in the “heavy” (כבד) conjugation one grammatical form is used both as future (i. e. the imperative, since the imperative calls for on action to be done in the future relative to the time when the command is given) and as past tense e. g., (13:17) קום התהלך “arise walk” is future (i. e. imperative); התהלך נח “Noah walked” (in this passage) is past; (1 Samuel 12:19) התפלל בעד עבדיך “Pray for thy servants” is future (i. e. imperative) and (1 Kings 8:42) ובא והתפלל אל הבית הזה “When he shall come and shall pray toward this house” is past, only that the ו at the beginning of the word changes the tense into the future (it is Vav conversive).

[11] h.ותשחת [THE EARTH] WAS CORRUPT — It means lewdness and idolatry, as (Deuteronomy 4:16) פן תשחיתון “lest ye deal corruptly” (the following words show that this refers to idolatry) and as ‘כי השחית כל בשר וגו “for all flesh had corrupted etc.” (in next verse of this chapter where Rashi states that this has reference to lewdness) (Sanhedrin 57a).

h.ותמלא הארץ חמס AND THE EARTH WAS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE — means robbery.

[12] all flesh h.כי השחית כל בשר FOR ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED — even cattle, beasts and fowl did not consort with their own species (Genesis Rabbah 28:8).

[13] h.קץ כל בשר THE END OF ALL FLESH — Wherever you find lewdness and idolatry, punishment of an indiscriminate character comes upon the world killing good and bad alike (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).

h.כי מלאה הארץ חמס FOR THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE — Their fate was sealed only on account of their sin of robbery (Sanhedrin 108a).

h.את הארץ [I WILL DESTROY THEM] WITH THE EARTH — It is similar to מן הארץ “from the earth”; other examples of this use of את are: (Exodus 9:29) בצאתי ‘‘when I go forth” את העיר which means מן העיר “from the city” and (1 Kings 15:23) חלה ‘‘he suffered” את רגליו which means מן רגליו ‘‘from his feet”. Another explanation of את הארץ is: “together with the earth” — for the earth was blotted out and washed away to the depth of a furrow of three handbreadths (Genesis Rabbah 31:7).

[14] h.עשה לך תבת MAKE THEE AN ARK — There are numerous ways by which God could have saved Noah; why, then, did he burden him with this construction of the Ark? So that the men of the generation of the Flood might see him employed on it for 120 years and might ask him, “What do you need this for”? and so that he might answer them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, is about to bring a flood upon the world” — perhaps they might repent (Sanhedrin 108b) (literally, return to God).

h.עצי גופר GOPHER WOOD — Thus is its name. Why of this species (גפר)? Because of the (גפרית) “sulphur” by which it was decreed that they were to be blotted out.

h.קנים ROOMS — Separate cabins for each kind of cattle and beast.

h.בכפר WITH כפר — This is an Aramaic term for the Hebrew זפת “pitch’’, and in the Talmud (Shabbat 67a) we find the noun כופרא “pitch”. In the case of the ark (cradle) in which Moses was placed, since the waters were not rapid it sufficed that it should be daubed with slime inside and with pitch outside; and a further reason for this was that this righteous person (Moses) should not smell the bad odour of the pitch (Sotah 12a). Here, however, because of the rough waters he had to cover it with pitch inside as well as outside.

[16] h.צהר A LIGHT — Some say this was a window; others say that it was a precious stone that gave light to them (Genesis Rabbah 31:11).

h.ואל אמה תכלנה מלמעלה AND TO A CUBIT SHALT THOU FINISH IT UPWARD — Its covering (roof) slanted upwards so that it narrowed at the top to a cubit, in order that the water should run off on both sides.

h.בצדה תשים THOU SHALT SET [THE DOOR] IN THE SIDE THEREOF — in order that the rain might not penetrate.

h.תחתים שנים ושלישים WITH LOWER, SECOND AND THIRD STORIES — Three stories one above the other: the top rooms for the human beings, the middle ones as cabins for the cattle, and the bottom was for the refuse (Sanhedrin 108b).

[17] and I behold I do bring h.ואני הנני מביא AND I, BEHOLD, I DO BRING — God says, “Now I am prepared to agree with those angels who cautioned Me and long ago said to Me (when I was about to create man), (Psalms 8:5) “What is man that thou art mindful of him” (Genesis Rabbah 31:12).

h.מבול A FLOOD — so called because it ruined (בלה) everything; because it cast everything into confusion (בלל), and because it brought (הוביל from root יבל) everything down from the heights to a lower level. And this last explanation underlies the translation of Onkelos who translates it by טופנא (Ar. טוף = Heb. צוף) because the Flood caused everything to float about and brought it (the Ark) to Babel which is a low-lying district. That is the reason why it (Babylon) is called, also, Shinar (שנער): because all those who died through the Flood were shaken out (ננערו) into it (Shabbat 113b).

[18] establish my covenant h.והקמתי את בריתי BUT I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT — A covenant was necessary for the sake of the fruits that they should not rot or decay; and also that the wicked people of that generation should not kill him (Genesis Rabbah 31:12)

h.אתה ובניך ואשתך THOU, AND THY SONS AND THY WIFE — Males separately and females separately. From this one may infer that they were not permitted to live together in the Ark as man and wife (Sanhedrin 108b).

[19] h.ומכל החי AND OF EVERY LIVING THING — Even of demons (Genesis Rabbah 31:13).

h.שנים מכל TWO OF EVERY SORT — Even of the least numerous amongst them there were not less than two—one male, the other female.

[20] h.מהעוף למינהו OF THE FOWLS AFTER THEIR KIND— those that had kept to their own species and had not corrupted their way (taking the words to mean, “of the fowls that had kept to their own kind”). All these came of their own accord, but only those which the Ark was allowing to pass in did Noah permit to enter (Sanhedrin 108b).

[22] h.ויעש נח THUS DID NOAH — This refers to the building of the Ark (Genesis Rabbah 31:14).