Genesis 6:11

11 Forsooth the earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with wickedness. (And the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and filled with wickedness.)

Genesis 6:11 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 6:11

The earth also was corrupt before God
That is, the inhabitants of the earth were corrupt in their lives and conversations; they were corrupt both in principle and practice, and did abominable things; and those corruptions were, according to Jarchi, uncleanness and idolatry; they were corrupt in the worship of God, worshipping the creature more, or besides the Creator; and they were corrupt in their manners and behaviour to one another, being guilty of fornication and adultery, and other enormous crimes; of some against God, and of others against their neighbours; and these they committed openly and impudently, without any fear of God, or dread of his wrath and displeasure, and in contempt of him, his will and laws:

and the earth was filled with violence;
with doing injury to the persons and properties of men; with oppression and cruelty, by tyrannical decrees and unrighteous judgments; or with rapines and robberies, as the Targums and Jarchi; and with rapes, as Aben Ezra adds: the account that Lucian ^F24 gives from tradition agrees with this; that the present race of men is not the first, they totally perished by a flood; and those men were very insolent and addicted to unjust actions; for they neither kept their oaths, nor were hospitable to strangers, nor gave ear to suppliants, for which reason they were destroyed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 De Dea Syria.

Genesis 6:11 In-Context

9 These be the generations of Noe. Noe was a just man and perfect in his generations; Noe went with God, (This is the story of Noah. Noah was a just, or a righteous, man, and the only good man of his generation; and Noah walked with God,)

10 and begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Forsooth the earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with wickedness. (And the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and filled with wickedness.)

12 And when God saw, that the earth was corrupt, for each flesh, or man, had corrupted his way on [the] earth (for all people had corrupted their ways upon the earth),

13 he said to Noe, The end of all flesh is come before me; the earth is filled with wickedness of the face of them, and I shall destroy them with the earth. (he said to Noah, The end of all flesh hath come before me, for they have filled the earth full of wickedness; and so I shall destroy them all, and the earth with them.)