Genesis 6

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Genesis 6 is the chapter before the flood. As people multiply, the "sons of God" take the daughters of men as wives, the Nephilim appear, and God limits human life to 120 years. Then comes the verdict: every inclination of the human heart is only evil all the time, and the LORD regrets making humanity and is grieved to his heart. He resolves to wipe out people and animals alike. But Noah finds favor. A righteous man who walks with God in a violent world, he is told to build an ark of gopher wood with three decks and a door, to bring in two of every creature and food for all, because a flood is coming and God will establish his covenant with him. Noah does everything exactly as commanded.

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Genesis 6 is where the story of the world takes its darkest turn, and it is told with astonishing restraint. It opens with a strange episode, the sons of God taking human wives and the Nephilim, the giants of old, and God setting a limit of 120 years on a race that has gotten out of hand. Then the narrator gives God's view of things, and it is a sentence people have argued about ever since: the wickedness of humanity was great, and every inclination of the thoughts of the heart was only evil, all the time. What follows is not rage. The LORD regretted that he had made man, and it grieved him to his heart. The decision to wipe it all out is spoken by a God who is sorry. And then the hinge on which the whole Bible turns: but Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Noah is righteous and blameless in his generation, and he walks with God, in a world the narrator describes three times as corrupt and full of violence. God tells him what is coming and what to build: a great chest of gopher wood, sealed with pitch, three hundred cubits long, three decks, one door, room for two of every creature and food for all of them. He also says a word that has not appeared in the Bible until now: covenant. I will establish my covenant with you. The chapter ends with one line about Noah that is the whole of his greatness. He did everything exactly as God commanded.

Key passages

Genesis 6:1-4 Genesis 6:5-8 Genesis 6:9-13 Genesis 6:14-22 Hebrews 11:7 Matthew 24:37-39

Historical and literary context

The flood story has parallels in Mesopotamian literature, above all the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atrahasis epic, where the gods send a flood and one man is warned to build a boat; Genesis shares the shape and differs in the reason, human corruption rather than divine annoyance, and in the one God who grieves. A cubit is about 45 centimeters, so the ark was some 135 meters long, larger than any ship built before the nineteenth century. Gopher wood is unidentified. The "sons of God" have been read since antiquity as angels, as the line of Seth, or as rulers, and the Nephilim recur as giants in Numbers 13. Jesus and Peter both refer to the days of Noah.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 4 tell of the sons of God and the daughters of men, the 120 years, and the Nephilim. Verses 5 to 8 give God's assessment of the human heart, his grief, his decision to blot out life, and Noah's favor. Verses 9 to 12 introduce Noah's account: his righteousness, his sons, and the corrupt, violent earth. Verses 13 to 21 are God's instructions: the end of all flesh, the ark and its measurements, the flood, the covenant, the animals, and the food. Verse 22 records Noah's complete obedience.

Why this chapter matters

Verse 5 is the Bible's starkest statement of human sinfulness and a foundation text for the doctrine of the fall, and verse 6, "the LORD regretted that He had made man," is its boldest statement that God feels. Noah walking with God, finding favor, and obeying to the letter became the model of faith in Hebrews 11 and of righteousness in a wicked age; the ark became, in Christian reading, a picture of baptism and of the church. "The days of Noah" are Jesus' image of a world caught unprepared. The first mention of "covenant" in the Bible is in verse 18.

Interpretive tension to watch

The identity of the sons of God and the Nephilim is the oldest puzzle in the chapter, and the church has never settled it. God's "regret" raises the question of whether an all-knowing God can change his mind, and readers answer with the language of accommodation, of genuine relationship, or of both. The destruction of every animal along with humanity troubles modern readers, and the flood's extent, global or regional, is debated among believers. Noah's "favor" in verse 8 comes before his righteousness in verse 9, which readers take as grace preceding goodness.

Questions for this chapter

  • God is "grieved in His heart" over human evil. What does it mean that the judge of the world is also its mourner?
  • Noah found favor before the text calls him righteous. Which comes first in your own story, being accepted or being good?
  • "Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him," for a flood no one could see. What does obedience look like when the reason is still invisible?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Add to Notes
1 When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3 The LORD said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were in 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. 5 The LORD 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. 6 The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 7 The 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.” 8 But Noah found favor in the LORD’s eyes. 9 This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 God 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. 14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You 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. 17 I, 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 in the earth will die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 Of 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. 20 Of 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. 21 Take 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.” 22 Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.

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