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Genesis 6:1

in Genesis 6

Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them,

KJV

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

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This verse in Genesis 6

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

on Genesis 6:1-8

And for a very long while wickedness extended and spread, and reached and laid hold upon the whole race of mankind, until a very small seed of righteousness remained among them: and illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind; and they bore to them sons who for their exceeding greatness were called giants.

This site's exposition

when men began to multiply on the face of the earth

on Genesis 6:1-2

Men multiply on the earth and daughters are born to them, and the sons of God take wives from among them. The phrase sons of God, bene ha-elohim, names angelic beings everywhere else in the Old Testament, as at Job 1:6. Fallen angels took human wives, and Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 look back to it. Augustine and Calvin took them as Seth's line marrying Cain's.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

When Scripture mentioned Noah and his sons and wanted to begin the account of the flood, it said that as soon as men began to multiply they began to sin, and they continued their sinful ways for many years until Noah was four hundred and eighty years.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Genesis 6:1:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַֽיְהִי֙and it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • הֵחֵ֣ל<it> began

    hechelH2490 →143 times

  • הָֽאָדָ֔ם<the> humankind

    haadamH120 →551 times

  • לָרֹ֖בto become numerous

    laroH7231 →

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • פְּנֵ֣י[the] surface of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הָֽאֲדָמָ֑הthe ground

    haadamahH127 →225 times

  • וּבָנ֖וֹתand daughters

    uvanotH1323 →588 times

  • יֻלְּד֥וּthey were born

    yuleduH3205 →496 times

  • לָהֶֽם׃to <the> them

    lahem

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

1 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 1:28

    God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature…

    it leads to

    • Genesis 9:1

      And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

    • Genesis 9:7

      But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”

    • Leviticus 26:9

      I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.

    • Psalms 128:3–4

      Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.

    • Genesis 22:17–18

      I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The World Is Destroyed by Water — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The World Is Destroyed by Water — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 6 →

This page draws on Chuck Missler, Return of the Nephilim; Irenaeus, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Sections 18-19 and John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis.

Read on in Genesis 6 →