Genesis 6:3
New International Version
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

New Living Translation
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”

English Standard Version
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Berean Standard Bible
So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

King James Bible
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

New King James Version
And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”

NASB 1995
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

NASB 1977
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he indeed is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”

Amplified Bible
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive and remain with man forever, because he is indeed flesh [sinful, corrupt—given over to sensual appetites]; nevertheless his days shall yet be a hundred and twenty years.”

Christian Standard Bible
And the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
And the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”

American Standard Version
And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And LORD JEHOVAH said: “My Spirit will not dwell in man for eternity because he is flesh and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Contemporary English Version
Then the LORD said, "I won't let my life-giving breath remain in anyone forever. No one will live for more than 120 years."

Douay-Rheims Bible
And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh, and his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

English Revised Version
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be an hundred and twenty years.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not struggle with humans forever, because they are flesh and blood. They will live 120 years."

Good News Translation
Then the LORD said, "I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years."

International Standard Version
So the LORD said, "My Spirit won't remain with human beings forever, because they're truly mortal. Their lifespan will be 120 years."

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the LORD said: 'My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.'

Literal Standard Version
And YHWH says, “My Spirit does not strive in man for all time, for indeed, he [is] flesh, but his days have been one hundred and twenty years.”

Majority Standard Bible
So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

New American Bible
Then the LORD said: My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh. Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.

NET Bible
So the LORD said, "My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years."

New Revised Standard Version
Then the LORD said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.”

New Heart English Bible
And the LORD said, "My Spirit will not remain in humankind forever, since he is indeed flesh; yet his days will be one hundred twenty years."

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

World English Bible
Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah saith, 'My Spirit doth not strive in man -- to the age; in their erring they are flesh:' and his days have been an hundred and twenty years.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Corruption on the Earth
2the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose. 3So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.…

Cross References
Galatians 5:16
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17
For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

1 Peter 3:20
who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.

Genesis 6:2
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

Psalm 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

Isaiah 57:16
For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.


Treasury of Scripture

And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

My.

Numbers 11:17
And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

Nehemiah 9:30
Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Isaiah 5:4
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

is.

Psalm 78:39
For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Romans 8:1-13
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit…

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Abide Age Always Contend Erring Flesh Forever Hundred Indeed Life Mortal Nevertheless Plead Spirit Strive Twenty
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Abide Age Always Contend Erring Flesh Forever Hundred Indeed Life Mortal Nevertheless Plead Spirit Strive Twenty
Genesis 6
1. The wickedness of the world, which provoked God's wrath.
8. Noah finds grace.
9. His family line
14. The order, form, dimensions, and building of the ark.














(3) And the Lord said.--As the Sethites are now the fallen race, it is their covenant Jehovah who determines to reduce the extreme duration of human life to that which, under the most favourable sanitary influences, might still be its normal length.

My spirit shall not always strive with man.--The meaning of this much-contested clause is really settled by the main purpose and context of the verse, which is the Divine determination to shorten human life. Whether, then, God's spirit be the animating breath spoken of in Genesis 2:7; Genesis 7:22, whereby human life is sustained, or the spiritual part of man, his conscience and moral sense--God's best gift to him--in opposition to his flesh, the struggle henceforward is not to be indefinitely prolonged. In the first case, the struggle spoken of is that between the elements of life and death in the body; in the second, it refers to the moral probation to which man is subject. The versions generally take the former meaning, and translate "shall not dwell," or "abide "; but there is much in favour of the rendering "shall strive," though the verb more exactly means to rule, preside over, sit as judge. Literally, then, it signifies that the Divine gift of life shall not rule in man "for ever;" that is, for a period so protracted as was antediluvian life. (Comp. Deuteronomy 15:17, &c.)

With man.--Heb., with the adam: spoken with especial reference to the Sethites.

For that he also is flesh.--So all the versions; but many commentators, to avoid an Aramaism which does not occur again till the later Psalms, translate, "in their erring he is (= they are) flesh." But no reason for shortening human life can be found in this commonplace assertion; and if Abraham brought these records with him from Ur, we have an explanation of the acknowledged fact that Aramaisms do occur in the earlier portions of the Bible. Man, then, is "also" flesh, that is, his body is of the same nature as those of the animals, and in spite of his noble gifts and precedence, he must submit to a life of the same moderate duration as that allotted them.

Verse 3. - And the Lord - Jehovah; not because due to the Jehovist (Tuch, Bleek, Colenso), but because the sin above specified was a direct violation of the footing of grace on which the Sethites stood - said, - to himself, i.e. purposed, - My spirit - neither "ira, seu rigida Dei justitia" (Venema), nor "the Divine spirit of life bestowed upon man, the principle of physical and ethical, natural and spiritual life" (Keil); but the Holy Ghost, the Ruach Elohim of Genesis 1:2 - shall not always strive. London: -

1. Shall not dwell (LXX., οὐ μὴ καταμείνη; Vulgate, non permanebit; Syriac, Onkelos).

2. Shall not be humbled, i.e. by dwelling in men (Gesenius, Tuch).

3. More probably, shall not rule (De Wette, Delitzsch, Kalisch, Furst), or shall not judge (οὐ κρίνει), as the consequence of ruling (Symmachus, Rosenmüller, Keil), or shall not contend in judgment (arguere, reprehendere; cf. Ecclesiastes 6:10), i.e. strive with a man by moral force (Calvin, Michaelis, Dathe, 'Speaker's Commentary,' Murphy, Bush). With man, for that he also - beshaggam. Either be, shaggam, inf. of shagag, to wander, with pron. surf. = "in their wandering" (Gesenius, Tuch, Keil) - the meaning being that men by their straying had proved themselves to be flesh, though a plural suffix with a singular pronoun following is inadmissible in Hebrew (Kalisch); or be, sh (contracted from asher), and gain (also) = quoniam. Cf. Judges 5:7; Judges 6:17; Song of Solomon 1:7 (A.V.). Though an Aramaic particle, "it must never be forgotten that Aramaisms are to be expected either in the most modern or in the most ancient portions of Scripture" ('Speaker's Commentary) - is flesh, not "transitory beings" (Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Tuch), or corporeal beings (Kalisch), but sinful beings; bashar being already employed in its ethical signification, like σάρξ in the New Testament, to denote "man's materiality as rendered ungodly by sin" (Keil). "The doctrine of the carnal mind (Romans 8.) is merely the outgrowth, of the thought expressed in this passage ' (Murphy). Yet his days - not the individual's (Kalisch), which were not immediately curtailed to the limit mentioned, and, even after the Flood, extended far beyond it (vide Genesis 11.); but the races, which were only to be prolonged in gracious respite (Calvin) - shall be an hundred and twenty years. Tuch, Colenso, and others, supposing this to have been said by God in Noah's 500th year, find a respite only of 100 years, instead of 120; but the historian does not assert that it was then God either formed or announced this determination.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So the LORD
יְהוָ֗ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

said,
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“My Spirit
רוּחִ֤י (rū·ḥî)
Noun - common singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7307: Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

{will} not
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

contend
יָד֨וֹן (yā·ḏō·wn)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1777: A straight course, sail direct

with man
בָֽאָדָם֙ (ḇā·’ā·ḏām)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

forever,
לְעֹלָ֔ם (lə·‘ō·lām)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5769: Concealed, eternity, frequentatively, always

for
בְּשַׁגַּ֖ם (bə·šag·gam)
Preposition-b, Pronoun - relative | Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

he [is]
ה֣וּא (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

mortal;
בָשָׂ֑ר (ḇā·śār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1320: Flesh, body, person, the pudenda of a, man

his days
יָמָ֔יו (yā·māw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

{shall} be
וְהָי֣וּ (wə·hā·yū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

120
מֵאָ֥ה (mê·’āh)
Number - feminine singular
Strong's 3967: A hundred

years.”
שָׁנָֽה׃ (šā·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8141: A year


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OT Law: Genesis 6:3 Yahweh said My Spirit will not strive (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 6:2
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