Genesis 6

Man’s Wickedness

1#Ge 1:28When men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took as wives any they chose. 3#Ps 78:39; Ne 9:30The Lord said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man, for he is flesh; yet his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4#Nu 13:33; Dt 3:11The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

5#Ge 8:21; Mt 15:19The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was continually only evil. 6#Isa 63:10; 1Sa 15:11The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart. 7So the Lord said, “I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—both man and beast, and the creeping things, and the birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8#Ge 19:19; Lk 1:30But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah and the Flood

9#Lk 1:6; 2Pe 2:5These are the generations of Noah.

Noah was a just man and blameless among his contemporaries. Noah walked with God. 10#Ge 5:32Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11#Eze 8:17The earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. 12#Job 22:15–17; 33:27God looked on the earth and saw it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13#Am 8:2; 1Pe 4:7So God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I will destroy them with the earth. 14#Ex 2:3; 1Pe 3:20Make an ark of cypress wood for yourself. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15And this is how you must make it: The length of the ark will be three hundred cubits, the width of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.#About 10 pounds, or 4.6 kilograms. 16Make an opening#Or roof. one cubit#About 18 inches, or 45 centimeters. below the top of the ark all around; and you must set the door of the ark on the side. Make it with a lower, a second, and a third story. 17#Ge 7:4; 7:21–23; 2Pe 2:5I will bring a flood of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, wherever there is the breath of life under heaven, and everything that is on the earth will die. 18#Ge 7:7; 7:1But I will establish My covenant with you; you must go into the ark—you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19Bring every living thing of all flesh, two of every kind, into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of creeping thing of the earth will come to you to be kept alive. 21#Ge 1:29–30Also, take with you of every kind of food that is eaten and gather it to yourself, and it will be for food for you and for them.”

22#Ge 7:5; 7:9Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 6

Giants in the Land

1-2When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves.

3Then God said, “I’m not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they’re going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years.”

4This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.

Noah and His Sons

5-7 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.”

8But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.

9-10This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11-12As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.

13God said to Noah, “It’s all over. It’s the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep.

14-16“Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.

17“I’m going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

18-21“But I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them.”

22Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

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Genesis 6

Genesis 6