Geneva Bible Study Notes :: Footnotes for Genesis 6

Gen 6:2 That the (a) sons of God saw the daughters (b) of men that they [were] (c) fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

(a) The children of the godly who began to degenerate.

(b) Those that had wicked parents, as if from Cain.

(c) Having more respect for their beauty and worldly considerations than for their manners and godliness.

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always (d) strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an (e) hundred and twenty years.

(d) Because man could not by won by God's leniency and patience by which he tried to win him, he would no longer withhold his vengeance.

(e) Which time span God gave man to repent before he would destroy the earth, 1Pe 3:20.

Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of (f) renown.

(f) Who usurped authority over others, and degenerated from that simplicity, in which their father's lived.

Gen 6:6 And it (g) repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

(g) God never repents, but he speaks in human terms, because he destroyed him, and in a way denied him as his creature.

Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and (h) beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

(h) God declares how much he detests sin, seeing the punishment of it extends to the brute beasts.

Gen 6:8 But Noah (i) found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

(i) God was merciful to him.

Gen 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with (k) violence.

(k) Meaning, that all were given to the contempt of God, and oppression of their neighbours.

Gen 6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; [with] (1) lower, second, and third [stories] shalt thou make it.

(1) That is, of three heights.

Gen 6:18 But with thee will I (m) establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

(m) So that in this great undertaking and mocking of the whole world, you may be confirmed so your faith does not fail.

Gen 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, (n) so did he.

(n) That is, he obeyed God's commandment in all points without adding or taking away.