Verse 5 Hebrew Text

6:5וַיַּ֣רְא יְהוָ֔ה כִּ֥י רַבָּ֛ה רָעַ֥ת הָאָדָ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ וְכָל־יֵ֨צֶר֙ מַחְשְׁבֹ֣ת לִבֹּ֔ו רַ֥ק רַ֖ע ל־הַיֹּֽום׃

Verse 5 Sentence Flow

וַ - waw consecutive = then
יַּ֣רְא - Qal Imperfect Third Person Masculine Singular = (he) saw
  יְהוָ֔ה - NMS, subject = the Lord
  כִּ֥י - conjunction = that
    רָעַ֥ת - AFM, attributive adjective, construct = evil
      הָאָדָ֖ם - NMS, construct = (of) man
        רַבָּ֛ה - AFS, predicate adjective = (was) great
        בָּאָ֑רֶץ - preposition + noun = in the earth/land

  וְכָל - waw conjunctive + NMS, construct = and every
    יֵ֙צֶר֙ - NMS, construct = intent (that which forms the thoughts)
      מַחְשְׁבֹ֣ת - NFP, construct = (of the) thoughts
        לִבֹּ֔ו - NMS, construct, 3MS pronominal suffix = (of) his heart
        רַ֖ע - AMS, predicate adjective = (was) evil
          רַ֥ק - restrictive modifier = only

  כָּל - NMS, construct = all/every
    הַיּֽוֹם - definite article, NMS, construct = the day (idiomatic measure of time)

Verse 5 Translation Rationale

Genesis 6:5 begins with a waw consecutive which can is translated “then.” The reason we translate this “then” rather than “and” is because when the waw is connected to the Qal perfect or Qal imperfect it denotes a consecutive action in the storyline.¹ The waw consecutive is affixed to יַּ֣רְא which means “to see.” When a waw consecutive is connected to a Qal imperfect we translate it using the English past tense. Therefore, “then (he) saw.” We specify “he” for now because we haven’t yet covered the subject of this verb. The tetragrammaton is next and is the subject of יַּ֣רְא — we translate the entire clause as “then the Lord saw” now that we have included the subject. כִּ֥י means “that or because” and is a simple conjunction. In this case there’s not causation being implied so translating it as “that” is fine. Next we encounter a construct chain consisting of רָעַ֥ת הָאָדָ֖ם and this is translated “evil of man.” Construct chains work similarly to the genitive case in Greek. The רָעַ֥ת הָאָדָ֖ם construct chain is then modified by the predicate adjective רַבָּ֛ה and is translated as “was great.” Predicate adjectives are generally translated with an English linking verb and we keep it in the same tense as the main verb of the sentence. The final words of this portion of the sentence are בָּאָ֑רֶץ and are translated as “in the earth/land.” Given the context, the “earth” is probably anachronistic and “land” is likely more of what Moses had in mind. However, earth may be acceptable also given God’s high position in the heavens looking to on the state of man. All in all, I believe either is acceptable. To summarize our translation progress up until now it is, “then the Lord saw that the evil of man was great in the land.”

The text now moves into a long construct chain that encompasses nearly the remainder of the sentence. The construct chain opens with וְכָל and this is translated “and every.” The Hebrew word כֹּל is a word that conveys the thought of “all, whole, every.” Meaning, nothing is exempted from the reach of the word. This is important to understand given what comes next. The word directly connected to כֹּל in the construct chain is יֵ֙צֶר֙ and I have translated it along with most English translations as “intent.” This word is worth diving into a bit deeper.

yēṣer is a word of formation. Meaning, this word is used to describe that which forms or is formed. As an example, in Jeremiah 18:1-12 the text shows us the potter who forms the pottery. The word translated potter is a noun form of yēṣer. We see the root being used across the landscape of Scripture as the one who forms, the thing that is formed, and so on. The specific form of the word here in Genesis 6:5 is pointing to that which forms man’s thoughts. It would seem, based on the words, that the nature of man (that which forms the thoughts) is continually evil. That which forms the thoughts, intent as we have agreed to translate it, is the bedrock of what drives our actions. Intentions turn into thoughts which turn into actions. It would be on account of this reasoning that Jesus would say if one is angry with his brother he is a murderer. The point Christ is making in the context of Matthew 5 is that the actions of person are driven by the intent of the thoughts of their heart.

An Aside on יֵ֨צֶר֙

Moving beyond yēṣer we come to מַחְשְׁבֹ֣ת and this is translated as “thoughts” since it’s a plural noun. Of note, this is in construct also and is therefore attached to what came before it. The next word brings us to the end of the construct chain and it is לִבֹּ֔ו. We translate לִבֹּ֔ו as “his heart.” The reason for this is because the word contains a third masculine singular pronominal suffix on it indicating possession. So up to this point we now have “and all of the intent of the thoughts of his heart.” That entire bit is a construct chain. Now, we have this modified by the predicate adjective רַ֖ע. As mentioned previously, when translating a predicate adjective we will generally use a linking verb in the same tense as the main verb of the sentence. Therefore, we translate this as “was evil.” However, we need to handle the adverb רַ֥ק and it will modify our supplied linking verb. רַ֥ק in this context means “only.” When we watch how רַ֥ק modifies the linking verb we can now supply the translation “was only evil.” It’s really important to note here, only is an intentional modifier. Meaning this is intentionally stating that man’s intentions are only evil. There are no good intentions that come from man. Finally, we reach the closing construct chain for this sentence which is כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם. We have sufficiently covered כֹּל previously and it will be translated as “all” here. The final word in the construct chain is הַיּֽוֹם. This is יוֹם with a definite article so we translate it as “the day.” For meaning, this is an idiomatic statement of time. Often, this will be translated in English Bibles as “continually.” Continually communicates the intention of the idiom well.

Verse 5 English Translation

Then the Lord saw that the evil of man was great in the Earth and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day (continually).

Verse 5 Interpretive Questions

1. This verse is clear that all of man’s intentions are evil (since the fall). Is there anywhere in Scripture prior to the introduction of regeneration that would indicate a change in the nature (intent) of man?

1. Pratico, Gary D., and Miles V. Van Pelt. Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar. Third Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019, 179. ↩︎