6 As human beings began to multiply and spread across the surface of the earth as God commanded, they had lovely daughters. 2 The sons of God saw how beautiful the humans’ daughters were, and they decided to take any daughters they wanted as their wives.
Eternal One: 3 My life-giving Spirit will not sustain human beings forever because they are, after all, made of flesh. Therefore, I will put a limit on their lifespan of about 120 years.
Throughout Scripture God is described as spirit and humans as flesh. God’s statement emphasizes the eternal, life-giving nature of spirit and the mortal, dependent nature of flesh. Without God’s Spirit-breath sustaining humanity, life itself is not possible. Humans are totally dependent on God. The upper limit of human life is set at roughly 120 years; but the change comes gradually, and Aaron is the last of the patriarchs to live beyond the limit.
4 Now at that time and for some time to come, a great warrior race[a] lived on the earth. Whenever the sons of God would have sex with the humans’ daughters, the women bore them children who became mighty warriors. In the days of old, they became famous heroes, the kind people tell stories about!
By Noah’s time nearly all people are drugged on the fumes of their egos. Wickedness has become the number one, all-consuming human addiction.
5 The Eternal One saw that wickedness was rampaging throughout the earth and that evil had become the first thought on every mind, the constant purpose of every person. 6-7 At that point God’s heart broke, and He regretted having ever made man in the first place.
Eternal One: I know what I’ll do. I will wipe humanity, My special creation, from the face of the earth—humans, animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I ever made them.
8 But there was one person whom the Lord could not let go of—Noah—because this man pleased Him.
9 Here is the account of Noah and his descendants. Noah was a good man, a right-living man, the best man of his generation; and he walked closely with God. 10 Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11-12 They lived at a time when the world had become vile and corrupt. Violence was everywhere. God saw that the earth was in ruins, and He knew why: all people on earth except Noah had lived corrupt lives and ruined God’s plans for them. He had to do something.
Eternal One (to Noah): 13 Noah, I have decided to wipe out all the living creatures I have made because they are spreading violence throughout the earth. Watch! I will destroy them with the earth. 14 I want you to build an ark. Build it out of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with tar. 15 Here’s how you will do it: build the ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Put a roof[b] on the ark and leave a gap of 18 inches below the roofline for air to circulate. Put the door of the ark in its side, and build it with lower, middle, and upper decks. 17 Look! I am going to unleash a torrent and flood the earth to destroy all flesh under the heavens which breathes the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth will die.
18 But I will make a pact with you, Noah—a covenant agreement. To survive, you and your family—you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives—must go into the ark. 19 And, out of all the living creatures I have made, you must bring two of each kind into the ark with you, to keep them alive. Bring one male and one female of each kind. 20 Bring all kinds of birds, all sorts of animals, and all varieties of creatures that creep on the ground in pairs, so that each species will survive. 21 Also, you must bring food with you. Bring every kind of food that may be eaten, and store it all inside the ark. That way, you and all of the creatures will have enough food to eat.
22 So Noah listened to God, and he built the ark. He did everything God asked him to do.