Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Francesco Venale" <fvenale AT academicstudies.fsnet.co.uk>]

Dear Constandinos,

 

You wrote:  GENESIS 6:6 - WHY GOD REPENTED FOR THE CREATION OF THE MAN? 
What's the deep meaning of this verse nowadays?

 

Your question is interesting. Please see my comment below. 

 

The Hebrew word /¦q (nacham) means “to repent”, “feel regret”, “comfort”. But 
in the Old Testament most uses of this word are connected  with God’s 
feelings.   

 

Genesis 6:6 (BHS) says:  וַיִּנָּחֶם יְהוָה כּ־עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ 
וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ wich is translated by NASB “…It repented the Lord 
that he had made man…” and by NWT “And Jehovah felt regrets that he had made 
men in the earth, and he felt hurt at his heart”.

 

In reference to God the word nacham has not the idea of sin but the sense of  
“feeling regret” and by consequence “change of mind”. The NWT renders 
accurately the nuance of the word on this passage: the feeling of God toward 
men’s conduct.

 

You may also consider the following two comments:

 

[1] “In other instances, the Lord changed His mind ; obviously, He changed 
when man changed to make the right choices, but He could not change His 
attitude toward evil when man continued on the wrong course. As God changed 
His actions, He always remained faithful to His own rigteousness.” – Vine’s 
Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Word, “to repent”, 
pp. 201-2.

 

[2] “In the majority of cases where the Hebrew na·cham' is used in the sense 
of “feeling regret,” the reference is to Jehovah God. Genesis 6:6, 7 states 
that “Jehovah felt regrets that he had made men in the earth, and he felt 
hurt at his heart,” their wickedness being so great that God determined he 
would wipe them off the surface of the ground by means of the global Flood. 
This cannot mean that God felt regret in the sense of having made a mistake 
in his work of creation, for “perfect is his activity.” (De 32:4, 5) Regret 
is the opposite of pleasurable satisfaction and rejoicing. Hence, it must be 
that God regretted that after he had created mankind, their conduct became so 
evil that he now found himself obliged (and justly so) to destroy all mankind 
with the exception of Noah and his family. For God ‘takes no delight in the 
death of the wicked.’—Eze 33:11.

 

M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia comments: “God himself is said to repent 
[na·cham', feel regret]; but this can only be understood of his altering his 
conduct towards his creatures, either in the bestowing of good or infliction 
of evil—which change in the divine conduct is founded on a change in his 
creatures; and thus, speaking after the manner of men, God is said to 
repent.” (1894, Vol. VIII, p. 1042) God’s righteous standards remain 
constant, stable, unchanging, free from fluctuation. (Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17) No 
circumstance can cause him to change his mind about these, to turn from them, 
or to abandon them. However, the attitude and reactions of his intelligent 
creatures toward those perfect standards and toward God’s application of them 
can be good or bad. If good, this is pleasing to God; if bad, it causes 
regret. Moreover, the creature’s attitude can change from good to bad or bad 
to good, and since God does not change his standards to accommodate them, his 
pleasure (and accompanying blessings) can accordingly change to regret (and 
accompanying discipline or punishment) or vice versa. His judgments and 
decisions, then, are totally free from caprice, fickleness, unreliability, or 
error; hence he is free from all erratic or eccentric conduct.—Eze 18:21-30; 
33:7-20.” 

- Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, page 776, published by the Watchtower 
Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

 

I hope this answer is ok for you.

 

_ _ _ _
Regards, 

 

Francesco Venale
London

http://uk.geocities.com/fvenale

 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: spyropoulos constandinos 
  To: b-greek AT lists.ibiblio.org ; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 9:58 PM
  Subject: [b-hebrew] GENESIS 6:6 - WHY GOD REPENTED FOR THE CREATION OF THE 
MAN?


  Greetings to all of you from Athens,  Greece



  GENESIS 6:6 - WHY GOD REPENTED FOR THE CREATION OF THE MAN? What's the deep 
meaning of this verse nowadays?

  יֵשׁ תָּמִיד שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל


  Kαί μετενόησεν ὁ Θεός διότι ἐδημιούργησεν (ἐποίησεν, ἔκαμεν) τόν ἄνθρωπον 
ἐπί τῆς γῆς και ἐλυπήθη  -από τά βάθη- τῆς καρδίας του (Γεν. στ’ 6). 

  וַיִּנָּחֶם יְהוָה כּ־עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ 
(בראשית ו' 6).



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


  L'Éternel se repentit d'avoir fait l'homme sur la terre, et il fut affligé 
en son coeur (Gen. 6:6).

  Kαί μετενόησεν ὁ Θεός διότι ἐδημιούργησεν (ἐποίησεν, ἔκαμεν) τόν ἄνθρωπον 
ἐπί τῆς γῆς και ἐλυπήθη  - από τά βάθη - τῆς καρδίας του (Γεν. στ’ 6). 



   If you use Word 2000 or XP and MS Windows 2000 professional or XP or 98 – 
Hebrew enabled, you can type easily both accented and unaccented Hebrew and 
non polytonic and polytonic Greek as well.  Click on the Start button. Select 
Settings Control Panel. Double-click on the Keyboard icon. In the window that 
opens, choose the Language tab. Click the Add button and select the keyboard 
layout for Hebrew, Greek and Greek Polytonic. Finally for better and easier 
typing use the ON SCREEN KEYBOARD command (start, programs, Accessories, 
Accessibility, ON SCREEN KEYBOARD). Use PALATINO LINOTYPE, ARIAL UNICODE MS, 
TIMES NEW ROMAN and other fonts. The Hebrew and Greek text above and below is 
typed in that way, using the TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT for Hebrew and the PALATINO 
LINOTYPE for Greek (Greek Polytonic and Accented Hebrew).



  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, 
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is 
in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we 
forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 
  (Ματ. στ΄ 9 -13).

   

  לָכֵן כָּ הִתְּפַּלְּלוּ אַתֶּם: אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם, יִתְקַּדֵשׁ 
שִׁמְ, תָּבוֹא מַלְכוּתְ, יֵעַשֶׂה רְצוֹנְ כְּבַשָּׁמַיִם כֵּן בָּאָרֶץ 
(וּבָאָרֶץ). אֶת הַלֶּחֶם חֻקּנּוּ תֵּן לָנוּ הַיּוֹם וּסְלַח לָנוּ עַל 
חֲטָאֵינוּ כְּמוֹ שֶׁסּוֹלְחִים גַּם אֲנַחְנוּ לַחוֹטְאִים לָנוּ. וְאַל 
תְּבִיאֵנוּ לִידֵי נִסָיוֹן  כִּי חַלְּצֵנוּ מִן הָרָע. (כִּי לְ 
הַמַּמְלָכָה וְהַגְּבוּרָה וְהַתִּפְאֶרֶת לְעוּלְמֵי הָעוֹלָמִים. אָמֵן (מתי 
ו״ 9 - 13).





  Con
  Athens, Greece
  Spyrcon AT otenet.gr






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Subject: [b-hebrew] in need of Hebrew search
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Hi all,

I am looking for a search program that can give me stats on the occurence of
any given set of hebrew characters in the Bible.  Particularly im doing a
research paper on the names of God in the Psalms paying attention to yhwh,
elohim, and adonia as the primary three.  IF anyone knows where i can either
get the data from, or a program that will allow me to search that specific,
I would greatly appreciatte it.

Shalom
John D RObinett