6:1 WHEN MEN began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, |
6:2 The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired {and} chose. |
6:3 Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell {and} strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years. |
6:4 There were giants on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. |
6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination {and} intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. |
6:6 And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. |
6:7 So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, {and} wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground--not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air--for it grieves Me {and} makes Me regretful that I have made them. |
6:8 But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. |
6:9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just {and} righteous man, blameless {in} his [evil] generation; Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God. |
6:10 And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. |
6:11 The earth was depraved {and} putrid in God's sight, and the land was filled with violence (desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power). |
6:12 And God looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, {and} vicious it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth {and} lost their true direction. |
6:13 God said to Noah, I intend to make an end of all flesh, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I will destroy them and the land. |
6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopher {or} cypress wood; make in {it} rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, and compartments) and cover it inside and out with pitch (bitumen). |
6:15 And this is the way you are to make it: the length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits [that is, 450 ft. x 75 ft. x 45 ft.]. |
6:16 You shall make a roof or window [a place for light] for the ark and finish it to a cubit [at least 18 inches] above--and the door of the ark you shall put in the side of it; and you shall make it with lower, second, and third stories. |
6:17 For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy {and} make putrid all flesh under the heavens in which are the breath {and} spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die. |
6:18 But I will establish My covenant (promise, pledge) with you, and you shall come into the ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. |
6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh [found on land], you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. |
6:20 Of fowls {and} birds according to their kinds, of beasts according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind--two of every sort shall come in with you, that they may be kept alive. |
6:21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and you shall collect {and} store it up, and it shall serve as food for you and for them. |
6:22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. |