DID GOD REGRET CREATING MAN IN GENESIS 6:6?

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Genesis 6:6 is one of those difficult verses in the bible of which different bible commentators have varied interpretations. The verse seems to suggest that God regretted His action of creating man on earth. But how can one attribute regret to the All-Knowing God? 

Genesis 6:6 (ESV) And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 

Genesis 6:6 (KJV) And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 

Genesis 6:6 (NASB) The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 

The Hebrew word translated as “regretted” or "repented" or "sorry" in the above verse is yin'nā'hem, from the root word nacham. The word is exclusively about emotions: a feeling of pain, sadness, or unhappiness. The word does not imply that God feels He has made a mistake, or that He wishes to have done differently. 

However, this word simply means that God is unhappy with the current state of man. Please note that it is possible to experience grief and "regret," as used in the verse, without implying an error. Any parent who has held a crying, upset child as they receive a shot has experienced exactly that. Such a parent is "grieved" over the pain but has no illusions that this was the wrong decision. 

To say, therefore, that God “repented,” or that he was “grieved,” is simply a symbolic way of asserting that man’s conduct did not meet the divine standard. This language vividly portrays, from a human perspective, God’s displeasure at man rebellion. It was used so that the reader would understand what was being said about an abstract Deity.


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