Genesis 6:3

Translations

Modern

So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

Traditional

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Literal

And YHWH said, “My Spirit shall not strive with mankind forever, for indeed he is flesh. And his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.”

Latin

Dixitque Deus: Non permanebit spiritus meus in homine in æternum, quia caro est: eruntque dies illius centum viginti annorum.

Original

Hebrew

English

So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

Notes

Genesis 6:3

will not contend with: Many think that this is an announcement of God’s decision to withdraw the restraining influence of his Spirit from human society and allow human wickedness to fully develop. Others think it means God would take away his life-giving breath from humans at an earlier age. The Hebrew word ruakh can mean both "spirit" and "breath"(see 6:17; 7:22; see also Psalm 104:29–30).
his days shall be 120 years: This might be a new limit on how long people could live. But after the great flood, people lived longer than 120 years (see, for example, Genesis 11:10–26).
Or, this might refer to a 120-year period of grace before the great flood (see Jonah 3:4; Matthew 24:37–38; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5).

Genesis 6:1–8

Human wickedness became very great, so God sent the flood to destroy all living things. But there is a sign of hope, because God showed favor to Noah (6:8).

Theme notes and profiles

Noah God’s Covenant with Noah Retribution Symbolic Numbers The Creation

Events

God decides to destroy every living thingc. 2468 BC

Related verses

Nehemiah 9:30
You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.
Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
Jeremiah 11:11
Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.
1 Peter 3:18–20
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
Psalm 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
Galatians 5:16–24
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Numbers 11:17
And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put that Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.
Romans 8:1–13
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Do not extinguish the Spirit.
Isaiah 5:4
What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
John 3:6
Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

Genesis 6:3

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