Genesis 6:12

Gen 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

Ver. 12. All flesh had corrupted his way.] General defection precedes general destruction; as here all sorts and sexes were fallen from God. All kinds of sins were common among them. In the family, promiscuous lusts, unlawful marriages, &c. In the state, tyranny, violence, injustice. In the Church, contempt of God’s word; abuse of his patience to presumption; of his bounty to security in sin. For they ate, they drank, they married, they planted, they builded, &c. And all this they did constantly and pleasantly, passing from eating to drinking; from drinking to marrying (for, Venus in vinis , and gluttony, is the gallery that wantonness walks through); from marrying to planting, for the use of posterity, as St Luke sweetly sets forth by an elegant rhetorical figure {a} All this they did, and God was silent, {Psa 22:2} therefore their hearts grew fat as brawn, and they knew nothing, saith our Saviour, nor would know, till the very day that the flood came. Into such a dead lethargy were they cast by their sins; which were therefore grown ripe, and ready for the sickle.

{a} ησθιον, επινον, εγαμουν, &c. - Luk 17:27

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(12) All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.—These material things were incapable alike of moral good or evil, but man had made them the instruments of working his carnal will, and because of the associations connected with them they must be effaced, or rubbed out. (See Note on Gen_6:7.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. all flesh] Used here for “all the human race.” The phrase, which is found 13 times in the Story of the Flood, is a characteristic of P.

had corrupted his way] This expression seems to be used with the object of shewing that man was a free agent, and that his corruption was not the result of blind fate, or of any external malign influence.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Make thee an ark of Gopher wood,.... It is not called a ship, for it was not made for sailing to any distant parts, but an ark or chest, being like one, flat bottomed, and ridged and sloping upwards, and was made for floating on the waters for a little way. So Lucian (c), and other Heathen writers, call it "an ark" or "chest": this was made of "Gopher wood", which all the Targums, and the more ancient Rabbins, understand of cedar wood; some the box tree, as the Arabic version; others, the pine; others, fir; the Mahometans say it was the Indian plane tree; and others, the turpentine tree: but the cypress tree bids fairest to be the wood of which, the ark was made, as Fuller (d), Bochart (e), and others (f) have shown; that being nearest to "Gopher" in sound, and being a wood very durable and incorruptible, and fit for shipping. Alexander made a navy of cypress trees in the groves and gardens about Babylon, as Strabo (g) relates: where this ark was made, is not easy to say: some think in Palestine; others, near Mount Caucasus, on the borders of India; others, in China: but it is most likely it was near the garden of Eden, where Noah lived, and not far from Ararat, where the ark rested. Bochart (h) conjectures, that "Gopher" is the name of the place where it was made, as well as of the wood of which it was made; and that it might be Cupressetum or Cyparisson, which Strabo (i) places in Assyria. How long Noah was building the ark is variously conjectured: a Jewish (k) writer says fifty two years; and an Arabic writer (l) an hundred years; others think Noah was building it the whole one hundred and twenty years (m), the time of God's longsuffering and forbearance, which some conclude from Pe1 3:20 but though it would require not a few years to build such a vessel, and prepare everything necessary for the use of it, yet one would think it should not take so many years as the least account gives unto it: it may be observed, the order is, "make thou", or "for thyself" (n); for thy use and benefit, for the saving of thyself and family, as well as for the preservation of the several creatures which were for the service of him and his posterity:

rooms shalt thou make in the ark; or "nests" (o); little apartments, and many of them for the several creatures, and for their provisions, as well as for Noah and his family. The Targum of Jonathan gives us the number of them, paraphrasing the words thus,"one hundred and fifty cells shalt thou make for the ark on the left hand, and ten apartments in the middle to put food in, and five cabins on the right, and five on the left:"

and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch; it was pitched without to keep out the waters, and that they might more easily slide off, and to preserve the ark from being eat with worms, or hurt with the wind and sun; and it was pitched within, to take off the ill smell that might arise from the several creatures, as well as for the better security of the ark. Some take it to be bitumen, a sort of clay or slime like pitch, such as was used at the building of Babel, and of the walls of Babylon. De Dieu conjectures it was that kind of bitumen which the Arabs calls Kaphura, which agrees in sound with the word here used; but why not the pitch of the pine tree, or the rosin of the cypress tree, and especially the latter, if the ark was made of the wood of it (p)?

(c) De Dea Syria. (d) Miscellan. Sacr. l. 4. c. 5. (e) Phaleg. l. 1. c. 4. col. 22, 23. (f) Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 1. p. 35. (g) Geograph, l. 16. p. 510. (h) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 1. c. 4. col. 22, 23.) (i) Ib. p. 508. (k) Pirke Eliezer, c. 23. (l) Elmacinus, p. 11. apud Hottinger, Smegma, l. 1. c. 8. p. 249. (m) Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 1, 2. (n) "tibi", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (o) "nidos", Pagninus, Montanus. (p) Vid. Scheuchzer. p. 35.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Its way, being abandoned to the most shameful and unnatural sins. (Liranus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

All men, as the word flesh is taken, Psa 78:39; Isa 40:5, and oft elsewhere,

had corrupted his way; either,

1. God’s way, his precepts concerning religion and righteousness; or,

2. Their own way or manner of living.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And God looked upon the earth. "God knows at all times what is doing in our world, but his looking upon the earth denotes a special observance of it, as though he had instituted an inquiry into its real condition" (Bush; cf. Psa_14:2 Psa_33:13, 14 80:2, 3) And, behold, it was corrupt. "Everything stood in sharpest contradiction with that good state which God the Creator had established" (Delitzsch, quoted by Lange). The nature of this corruption is further indicated. For all flesh, i.e. the human race, who are so characterized here not so much for their frailty (Isa_40:5, Isa_40:6) as for their moral and spiritual degeneracy (Gen_6:3, q.v.) had corrupted skachath (katafqeirw, LXX); literally, had destroyed, wrecked, and ruined, wholly subverted and overthrownhis wayderech (from darach, to tread with the feet), a going; hence a journey, a way; e.g.

(1) of living or acting (Pro_12:15; 1Sa 18:44)

(2) of worshipping God ojdov, (Act_19:9, 23 Psa_139:24; Amo_8:14) Here it signifies the entire plan and course of life in all its ethical and religious aspects as designed for man by God (cf. Psa_119:9; and contrast "the way of Cain," Jud_1:11; "the way of Balaam," 2Pe_2:15) upon the earth.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God looked upon the earth - And was himself an eye-witness of the corruption that was in it, for all flesh had corrupted his way - It was not some particular nations that were thus wicked, but the whole world so; there was none good beside Noah.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

כי השחית כל בשר FOR ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED — even cattle, beasts and fowl did not consort with their own species (Genesis Rabbah 28:8).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

FOR ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED THEIR WAY. If we were to explain all flesh in its usual sense and thus say that even cattle, beasts and fowl corrupted their way by consorting with other species, as Rashi has explained, we must then say that the expression, for the earth is filled with violence through them, does not mean “because of all of them” but only because of some of them [since “violence” does not apply to beasts and cattle], and Scripture tells of the punishment of man alone [even though all flesh corrupted their way]. Or we may say that the cattle, beasts, and fowl also did not follow their natural instincts, and all cattle seized prey and all fowl became birds of prey; thus they too committed violence.By way of the simple meaning of Scripture, all flesh means “all men.” Further on Scripture says explicitly: all flesh wherein is the breath of life; and of every living thing of all flesh, 6:19. meaning all living bodies. But here it says all flesh, meaning all people. Similarly [we find the verses]: All flesh shall come to worship before Me, [meaning “all people”]; Or when the flesh hath in the skin thereof, [where again reference is only to people].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

וירא, a continuation of the words לפני האלוקים in the last verse. כי השחית, the same as והנה נשחתה, i.e. a passive not a transitive hiphil. כל בשר, all of mankind. We find the same expression in Psalms 145,21 ויברך כל בשר, as referring not to all that lives, but to all of mankind. The same expression also appears in this sense in Isaiah 66,23 יבא כל בשר, “all of mankind will come, etc.”

את דרכו, its norms as established at the time of creation. Just as man cleaving to his wife (only) is described as a norm in Genesis 2,24, so there were other norms all of which were violated by the generation of the deluge. In retribution, G’d now violates the norms that applied to the conditions prevailing on our planet.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.