The NIV Study Bible

genesis chapter vi

The Flood

6:1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,

6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

6:3 Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not contend with[a] man forever, for he is mortal[b]; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

6:5 The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

6:6 The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.

6:7 So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them."

6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

6:9 This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

6:10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.

6:12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

6:13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all the people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

6:14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

6:15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. [d]

6:16 Make a roof for it and finish[e] the ark to within 18 inches[f] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

6:17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

6:18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

6:19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

6:20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.

6:21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

6:22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Footnotes

[a] or My Spirit will not remain in

[b] or corrupt

[c] The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain

[d] Hebrew 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (about 140 meters long, 23 meters wide, and 13.5 meters high)

[e] or Make an opening for light by finishing

[f] Hebrew a cubit (about 0.5 meter)

Other Notes

verses 1 to 8 — How the early history of humankind led to such pervasive corruption on His creation.

verse 2 — "Sons of God" possibly refers to men who followed God, and "daughters of men" possibly refers to sinful women who are probably from the wicked line of Cain. If so, the context suggests the intermarriage of the Sethites ("sons of God") with the Cainites ("daughters of men") indicating the breakdown that had once existed between the two groups.

verse 4 — Nephilim. People of great size and strength (see Nu 13:31-33). The Hebrew word means "fallen ones." They were viewed by people as "the heroes of old, men of renown," but in God's eyes, they were sinners ripe for judgment.

verse 6 — The Lord was grieved... his heart was filled with pain. Human sin is God's sorrow (see Eph 4:30).

verse 7 — I will wipe mankind... form the face of the earth. The period of grace (see v. 3) was coming to an end.

animals... creatures... birds. Though morally innocent, the animal world, as creatures under the corrupted rule of human beings, shared in their judgment.

verse 8 to 9 — found favor... righteous... blameless... walked with God. Noah's godly life was a powerful contrast to the wicked lives of his contemporaries. This description of Noah does not imply sinless perfection.

verse 14 — ark. The Hebrew for this word is used elsewhere only in reference to the basket that saved the baby Moses (see Ex 2:3,5)

coat it with pitch. Moses' mother made his basket watertight in the same way (see Ex 2:3).

verse 16 — roof. Perhaps overhanging, to keep the rain from coming in

within 18 inches of the top. Noah's ark probably had a series of small windows (see 8:6) encircling the entire vessel 18 inches from the top to admit light and air.

verse 18 — covenant. Noah would not be given the particulars of God's covenant with him until after the floodwaters had dried up (see 9:9 to 17).

enter the ark. The story of Noah's deliverance from the flood foreshadows God's full redemption of His people (see Heb 11:7; 2Pe 2:5) and is viewed by Peter as in some sense symbolic of Christian baptism (see 1Pe 3:20 to 21)

your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. God extends His loving concern to the whole family of righteous Noah — a consistent pattern in God's dealings with His people, underscoring the moral and responsible relationship of parents to their children. (see 17:7 to 27; 18:19)

verse 19 — two of all living creatures... to keep them alive. Most animals were doomed to die in the flood, but at least one pair of each kind was preserved to restock the earth after the waters subsided.