Reading Guide
How the text is marked:
• Words in italics — added for English grammar (not in the Hebrew text)
• raqia — transliterated Hebrew terms kept untranslated (explained in notes)
• wind/spirit — a word the Hebrew leaves open to two meanings, both kept
• "…" — direct speech of God
Notes are tagged by type — Critical · Lexical · Grammatical · Theological — each shown with its colour (see the legend at the top of the Notes view).
This chapter contains some of the most contested passages in Genesis. The TT preserves every ambiguity the Hebrew preserves. "Sons of God/the gods" is slashed per Rule 2. "Nephilim" is transliterated per Rule 4. The flood-narrative tensions (two of each vs. seven pairs) are presented as the MT reads them, without harmonization (Rule 22).
Supplementary — patterns across the chapter
And it was when the human began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
and the sons of God/the gods saw the daughters of the human, that they were good, and they took for themselves women from all whom they chose.
• Rule 2: slash preserves the ambiguity. Rule 3: no single reading imposed. For fuller discussion of each option, see companion Section A1.
And YHWH said, "My spirit shall not remain/contend in the human forever, in that he is also flesh; and his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
The nephilim were on the land in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God/the gods came to the daughters of the human, and they bore to them — they are the mighty ones who were from of old, men of the name.
• The text does NOT say the nephilim are the offspring of the bene-elohim union — they are introduced as a separate statement ("on the land in those days, and also afterward"). Whether they are related to the divine-human union or a distinct group is UNCERTAIN. For fuller discussion, see companion Section A2.
And YHWH saw that great was the evil of the human on the land, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day.
And YHWH regretted that he had made the human on the land, and it grieved him to his heart.
• The text attributes emotional states (regret, grief) to YHWH. Rule 12 — translate literally; do not smooth into abstract theology.
And YHWH said, "I will wipe the human whom I created from upon the face of the ground, from human to livestock to creeping thing to bird of the sky, for I regret that I made them."
But Noach (Noah) found favor in the eyes of YHWH.
These are the generations of Noach (Noah). Noah was a righteous man, whole in his generations; with God walked Noah.
And Noach (Noah) begot three sons: Shem, Cham (Ham), and Yafet (Japheth).
And the land was corrupt before God, and the land was filled with violence.
And God saw the land, and see, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the land.
And God said to Noach (Noah), "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the land is filled with violence because of them, and see, I am destroying them with the land.
Make for yourself a tebah of gopher wood; rooms you shall make in the tebah, and you shall cover it inside and outside with kopher.
• LINGUISTIC OBSERVATION: Root כ-פ-ר (k-p-r) = cover/atone — same root as כִּפּוּר (kippur, Yom Kippur). The tebah is "covered" (kaphar) with kopher. Rule 14 wordplay flagged: shared root is a feature of the Hebrew; this verse is about waterproofing, not atonement. For fuller discussion, see companion Section A10.
And this is how you shall make it: three hundred cubits the length of the tebah, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height.
A tsohar you shall make for the tebah, and to a cubit you shall finish it from above, and the door of the tebah you shall set in its side; lower, second, and third decks you shall make it.
And I, see, I am bringing the flood of waters upon the land, to destroy all flesh in which is breath of life from under the sky; everything which is on the land shall die.
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the tebah — you and your sons and your woman and the women of your sons with you.
And from all the living, from all flesh, two from all you shall bring into the tebah to keep alive with you; male and female they shall be.
From the bird to its kind, and from the livestock to its kind, from every creeping thing of the ground to its kind, two from all shall come to you to keep alive.
And you, take for yourself from all food which is eaten, and gather it to yourself, and it shall be for food for you and for them."
And Noach (Noah) did according to all that God commanded him; so he did.
Glossary
Supplementary — patterns across the chapter
CROSS-CHAPTER TRACKING (Gen 5 → Gen 6)
• 2:4: "generations of the skies and the land"
• 5:1: "book of the generations of Adam"
• 6:9: "generations of Noach (Noah)"
"Walking with God":
• 5:22,24: Chanokh (Enoch) "walked with God" — and was taken
• 6:9: Noah "walked with God" — and was saved
• Only two people receive this phrase in Genesis.
Nacham root (comfort/regret):
• 5:29: Lemekh (Lamech) names son Noah hoping for nacham (comfort)
• 6:6: YHWH nacham (regretted) making humans
• 6:7: "for I regret (nachamti) that I made them"
• Same root, opposite emotional direction: human hope for comfort → divine regret.
Creation reversal:
• Gen 1: God saw "good" (6×) + "very good" (1×)
• Gen 6:5: YHWH saw "great evil"
• Gen 6:12: "God saw... corrupt"
• Gen 1: creation order (light → sky → land → plants → animals → humans)
• Gen 6:7: destruction order reverses (humans → livestock → creeping → birds)
Divine name distribution in Gen 6:
• vv.1–8: YHWH (narrator describes YHWH's emotional response)
• vv.9–22: God/Elohim (narrator describes God's instructions to Noah)
• This alternation is a textual feature. The TT preserves it without importing source-hypothesis framing.
"Two from all" vs. "seven pairs":
• 6:19: "two from all"
• 7:2: "from the clean livestock, seven seven"
• Tension preserved per Rule 22 + No-Harmonization Principle
First covenant:
• 6:18: berit introduced (first in Bible)
• Full terms: 9:8–17
Firsts in Genesis 6:
• First divine regret (v.6)
• First covenant (v.18)
• First "righteous" person (v.9)
• First "violence" (chamas) as named sin (v.11)
• First yetser (inclination, v.5)
• First mabbul (flood, v.17)
END OF GENESIS 6 — THE TRANSPARENT TRANSLATION (ENGLISH)
"A translation with nothing hidden."