Genesis 6

Notes

1. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 53, 62

   Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, reads οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ, "the messengers of God," where the Masoretic version reads "the sons of the elohim"; Rahlfs and Göttingen print οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, and Swete's own text has υἱοί at v. 4. The reading is old: Philo (On the Giants 6) quotes the verse with ἄγγελοι and takes the beings as souls of the air, and Josephus (Antiquities 1.73) tells it of "messengers of God" who lay with women. It stands behind the story of the Watchers in 1 Enoch 6–7 and the "messengers who did not keep their own rule" of Jude 6 and 2 Pet 2:4. ἄγγελος is "messenger" (62), so the English does not settle what the messengers were.

2. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   καταμείνῃ, "stay, remain on," where the Masoretic version reads "shall not hold court" (יָדוֹן). The Greek reads a verb of dwelling, as if the Hebrew were יָדוּר; the Vulgate agrees (non permanebit spiritus meus in homine). The Greek also has the plurals "these humans" and "fleshes" (σάρκας), where the Masoretic version reads "the human" and "he too is flesh."

3. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 52

   γίγαντες renders two Hebrew words in this verse: the Nephilim of its opening and the "mighty ones" (גִּבֹּרִים) of its close, which the Masoretic version keeps apart. The Greek word is the name of the earth-born Giants who fought the gods (Hesiod, Theogony 185), and the Greek Bible uses it again for the Nephilim of Num 13:33 and for Nimrod the "giant hunter" (Gen 10:8–9). Wis 14:6, Bar 3:26–28 and Sir 16:7 recall "the giants of old" who perished in the flood. "Giants" is also the KJV's word here; the RSV keeps "Nephilim."

4. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 90

   ἐγεννῶσαν ἑαυτοῖς, "they begot for themselves": the sons of God are the subject, and γεννάω is the father's verb. The Masoretic version reads "and they bore to them," the women bearing (the qal of יָלַד, 90).

5. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   The Masoretic version reads "and every shaping of the plans of his heart was solely bad all the day." The Greek has no word for "shaping" (יֵצֶר) or "plans," and makes each person the subject: πᾶς τις διανοεῖται, "every one ponders." Where the Masoretic version reads רַק, "solely," the Greek has ἐπιμελῶς, "diligently," with care: evil is what the heart attends to, not the only thing in it. The words return at 8:21.

6. Decision↩ Back to the text

   Expected: "it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart" (KJV) / "the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart" (RSV)

   Rulings 1, 46, 101

   The Masoretic version reads "And ADONAI was sorry … and he was pained to his heart" (niphal נחם, 101; hithpael עָצַב). The Greek has neither regret nor pain: ἐνεθυμήθη, "took to heart," of θυμός, the seat of feeling, and διενοήθη, "pondered," the verb of v. 5. God considers what the human ponders. Philo (That God Is Unchangeable 20–22, 33–34) built his argument that God does not change his mind on these two Greek verbs. The divine name is θεός alone here, where the Masoretic version reads ADONAI. Doctrinally decisive (46): the Greek is the oldest witness to a reading that keeps repentance away from God; the Masoretic version keeps it.

7. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 101

   ἐθυμώθην, "I was enraged," of θυμός "wrath" (Matt 2:16, of Herod). The Masoretic version reads "for I am sorry" (נִחַמְתִּי, the verb of v. 6). Having refused regret in v. 6, the Greek gives God anger here.

8. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 53

   Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, reads ἐν τῇ γενέσει αὐτοῦ, "in his genesis," repeating the word that opens the verse (αἱ γενέσεις). Rahlfs and Göttingen read ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ αὐτοῦ, "in his generation," close to the Masoretic version's "in his generations."

9. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   εὐηρέστησεν, "was well-pleasing," where the Masoretic version reads "with the elohim walked about Noah," as the Greek has it for Enoch (5:22, 24) and later for Abraham (17:1; 24:40; 48:15). Heb 11:5–6 argues from the Greek: Enoch "had been witnessed to as having been well-pleasing to God," and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing.

10. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 5, 52

    Καιρὸς παντὸς ἀνθρώπου, "Kairos of every human," where the Masoretic version reads "The end of all flesh." The Greek has the appointed time, not the end, and "every human" for "all flesh," though it keeps "all flesh" in vv. 12, 17. καιρός is "kairos," the core gloss (5).

11. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    ξύλων τετραγώνων, "squared wood," timber hewn square, where the Masoretic version reads "wood of gopher," a tree not otherwise named. The Greek names a shape, not a kind of tree; the Vulgate has de lignis levigatis, "of planed timbers."

12. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    ἐπισυνάγων, "gathering together," the chest drawn in toward its top, a cubit across at the summit. The Masoretic version reads "A gleam (צֹהַר) you shall make for the box"; the Greek has no gleam. It also has the door made "from the flanks," plural, where the Masoretic version reads "put in its flank," and decks that are "two-storied and three-storied," where the Masoretic version reads "second and third ones."

13. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 54, 141, 143

    The Greek lists cattle, creepers, beasts and all flesh, where the Masoretic version reads "And from all the living, from all flesh." τῶν θηρίων, "the beasts," answers the Masoretic version's "the living"; the cattle and the creepers have nothing behind them. The alignment seeds "And from all" and "and from all the creepers" but not "the cattle" between them, so the whole span is set as one plus and the cattle are added to it (54, 141).

14. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    τρέφῃς, "feed," with no object, and in v. 20 the passive τρέφεσθαι, "to be fed": the Greek has Noah keep the animals by feeding them, where the Masoretic version reads "to keep alive" (the hiphil of חָיָה). Matt 6:26 has the same verb of God, "your heavenly father feeds them."