1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
6:1-41 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 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.
God shortened the human lifespan to 120 years because humans are (also?) "flesh" and he was tired of fighting with them. [2]
4There 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 renown.
6:5-225 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
God saw that humans were wicked and he regretted making them. [4]
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
God said,
I'm going to kill every living thing I have created, for I regret that I made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Except for Noah, that is. Because Noah was a just and perfect man, who walked with God. [5]
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
(Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.) [6]
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
God said to Noah,
The end of all flesh is here.
The earth is filled with violence, so I will destroy the earth. [7]
Make an ark of gopher wood: 300 cubits long [8], 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits tall.
Put some pitch inside and outside the ark.
16A 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 lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
Make the ark three stories, with a cubit-long window, and a door in the side.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
I, even I, am going to kill everything that breathes in a flood.
Everything on earth will die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
Except for you and your sons and your sons' wives, who will be in the ark that you're going to build.
19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
And two of every living thing, which you will bring into the ark, one male and one female. [9]
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Bring birds, cattle, and creeping things onto the ark, two of each kind.
21And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
And take enough food to feed your family and all of the animals.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Noah followed all of God's instructions about the ark.
In the last chapter, the average age for a man to have his first son was 158 years. And yet here, God decides to shorten the human lifespan to 120 years. How's that going to work?
God decides to kill all living things because the human imagination is evil.
Later (8:21), after he kills everything, he promises never to do it again because the human imagination is evil.
The mind of God is a frightening thing.
He didn't seem so just and perfect when he was drunk and naked in front of his sons (9:20-21).
God was angry because "the earth was filled with violence." So he killed every living thing to make the world less violent.
Noah's ark was 450 feet long.
The longest wooden ships ever built were were about that size, but they required diagonal iron strapping for support. Even so, they leaked so badly that they had to be pumped constantly. And yet Noah, with no shipbuilding knowledge, was able to construct a wooden ship as long as the longest that have been built since.
But not only was the ark too big to be seaworthy, it was far too small to be able to contain the earth's millions of plant and animal species.
Friendly Atheist
