Genesis 6:6-7
“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 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.”
-- KJV
Ego
When I first read the verse, I interpreted it in the regular two-dimensional way that man so often does.
I (man) was so complicit in God's regret that he created me that he wiped my species from the face of the earth.
Now, the corruption of man must be mitigated by the fact that we were being led and taught by a group of bitter heavenly creatures that had run from God's grace because of their egos. They wanted to be equal to God. And they resented the love that God rendered upon mankind. So they left his side, fell to Earth, and corrupted us.
That means we were more attracted to the ways of the corrupt than to the will of our Creator. We thought we were deserving of more than what He wanted us to have. Ego.
It is easy to excuse our behavior, and let the Watchers take the blame. Scapegoat them.
I think the sheep would be right to hold the same opinion of mankind. They didn't seek the corruption of the fallen, but they shared in our punishment.
When did I earn the right to shift my burden of guilt to the innocent?
Genesis 6:5-8
WEB
Wickedness of the World
5
Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was continually only evil.
6
Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
7
Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground-- man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky-- for I am sorry that I have made them."
8
But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.
Version Study & Takeaway
The Linguistic Trap:
"Repent" implies God made a moral mistake; "Regret" implies God lacked foreknowledge and made a tactical miscalculation. Both words trap God in human limitations.
The Scriptural Reality (Nāḥam):
As I noted in 1 Samuel 15:11, more contemporary interpretations of God’s Word suffer from a tendency to gloss over the original intent. What I see is a developing pattern of humans minimizing our complicity. God was not pained because we presented Him with a bad joke; His pain came from bearing the raw grief of love rejected.
The Takeaway:
We are quick to look for architects of our ruin outside of ourselves. Blaming the fallen, the culture, or the spiritual climate feels cleaner than confronting our own appetites. But Genesis 6 dismantles that defense. Outside rebellion gave us a pattern; our own ego chose to wear it.
When humanity rebelled, creation paid the price alongside us. The innocent suffered because we abandoned our role as faithful caretakers, choosing self-exaltation over stewardship. Sin is never contained—it always costs someone who had no say in the choice.
Noah stands in verse 8 not as an example of human perfection, but as proof of an alternative orientation. While the world looked outward to feed its pride, Noah looked up. True favor doesn't begin when we explain away our corruption; it begins when we surrender the illusion that we can rule ourselves, choose humility, and walk faithfully against the current.
I also take comfort in the fact that the scripture here suggests that animals are subject to God's grace, too.