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Genesis 6:6

EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible):

The Lord was sorry he had made people on earth, and it made his heart heavy with sadness.

EOB Footnote:

The MT reads “the LORD was sorry” using a Hebrew verb that can mean “to be sorry, to relent, to change one’s mind” (root n-ch-m), whereas the LXX reads “God considered” or “God pondered” (using a Greek verb meaning “to think upon” or “to consider”). This represents a significant theological difference: the MT emphasizes divine regret or relenting, while the LXX softens this to divine reflection or consideration. The MT also reads “and it grieved him to his heart,” using a Hebrew verb expressing pain or sorrow (root ‘-ts-b), while the LXX renders this with a different construction meaning “he considered it in his heart” or “he took it to heart,” again softening the anthropopathic language. No DSS manuscript witness exists for this verse.

Other Translations:

KJV (King James Version):

And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

WEB (World English Bible):

The verse is: “Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.”

Benton LXX (Vaticanus):

And God laid it to heart that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply.

Douai-Rheims (Vulgate):

“And it repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,”

Apostoliki Diakonia (LXX):

And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

YLT (Young Literal Translation )(MT):

“And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.”

BBE (Bible in Basic English):

The verse text is: “And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart.”

EOB COMMENTARY:

EOB Commentary:

Genesis 6:6 Commentary

The Divine Repentance and the Mystery of God’s Condescension

This verse presents one of the most profound theological challenges in Scripture: the statement that God “repented” (Hebrew: nacham) and was “grieved in His heart.” The Eastern Fathers approached this passage with great care, understanding it as an example of divine condescension (synkatabasis) in which God accommodates human language to communicate spiritual realities beyond our comprehension.

Patristic Interpretation: St. John Chrysostom, in his Homilies on Genesis, emphasizes that such anthropopathic language does not imply change or passion in the immutable God. Rather, Scripture speaks in human terms so that we might grasp the gravity of human sin and its consequences. The “repentance” of God signifies not a change in the divine will but rather the change in humanity’s relationship to God through sin. St. John Damascene similarly affirms that God, being beyond all passion and change, uses such expressions pedagogically for our salvation.

Christological Significance: This passage anticipates the Incarnation in a remarkable way. The grief of God over human corruption finds its ultimate expression in Christ, who wept over Jerusalem and who, as the God-Man, truly experienced sorrow in His human nature. The divine heart grieved in Genesis becomes the Sacred Heart pierced on Golgotha. What is expressed metaphorically in the Old Testament becomes ontologically real in the New through the hypostatic union.

Liturgical Connections: The theme of divine grief over human sin permeates the penitential services of the Orthodox Church. During Great Lent, the Church calls the faithful to recognize how sin grieves God and to respond with repentance. The Lenten Triodion echoes this passage when it speaks of God’s patience and long-suffering toward sinners, inviting them to return before judgment comes.

Spiritual Application: For Orthodox spirituality, this verse teaches that sin is not merely a legal transgression but a wound to the divine-human relationship. God is not an indifferent lawgiver but a loving Father whose heart is moved by our choices. This understanding should inspire not servile fear but filial repentance born of love. The nous (spiritual intellect) purified through ascetic struggle comes to perceive how deeply our sins affect our communion with God.

The verse also points toward the theology of divine providence. Though grieved, God does not abandon creation but prepares salvation through Noah, prefiguring the greater salvation through Christ and the Church, often symbolized by the ark in patristic typology. Thus, even in expressing grief, God simultaneously reveals His mercy and His plan for redemption.

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