Genesis 6:5

Genesis 6:5, in plain English

God observes that human wickedness has become enormous, and every thought and intention of the human heart is continually and completely evil.

Why it's here

This is the divine assessment—not emotion without basis, but a clear-eyed observation of what humanity has become. Notice the totality of it: 'every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.' There's no room left for repentance, no pockets of goodness to build on, no reason to hope the situation will self-correct. The corruption is complete.

Who's speaking

The narrator, reporting what the LORD saw

Where it sits in the story

This explains why judgment is necessary. It's not harsh or arbitrary; it's a response to a reality that has become untenable. Creation itself is groaning under the weight of this evil, and something has to change.

The scholarly reading

God observes that human wickedness has become comprehensive and relentless—every thought and inclination is oriented toward evil without cessation or exception.

Language and setting

The verb ראה (ra'ah, 'saw') introduces divine observation that precedes decisive action, a common pattern in judgment narratives. The noun רָעָה (ra'ah, 'wickedness') encompasses moral depravity, while יֵצֶר (yetser, 'inclination') refers to the formative desire or impulse—the seat of moral agency. The phrase 'all the time' (כָּל־הַיּוֹם, kol-ha-yom) denotes perpetual orientation. Remarkably, this echoes later Deuteronomic assessment of human nature (Deuteronomy 31:29), suggesting structural continuity in the biblical view of human moral capacity absent divine intervention.

Voice

The narrative voice, describing divine perception

Significance

This verse shifts from particular transgression (angelic-human unions) to universal human corruption, justifying not selective punishment but cosmic reset—the Flood becomes theodically necessary because the entire moral ecology has collapsed.

3So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

6And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Read all of Genesis 6 — Violence fills the earth. God grieves over what humanity has become — and one man finds grace.