Genesis 6
Noah Found Grace
The earth fills with violence, and the LORD grieves that He made man. One man finds grace. Noah walks with God, receives the promise of God’s covenant, and builds the ark exactly as he is told.
Start reading Background
Genesis 6 turns from the long line of Adam’s descendants in chapter 5 to the man through whom that line would survive. Halfway through the chapter a new heading begins: “These are the generations of Noah” (verse 9). The book is built on such headings. “Each new section begins ‘These are the generations,’” and chapters 4–9 make up Noah’s part of the book. This chapter sets up the Flood: the corruption that brought it (verses 1–13) and the ark that would carry Noah’s family through it (verses 14–22). The Flood itself comes in chapters 7–8, and the covenant made after it in chapter 9.
The first thirteen verses are told again, at greater length, in Moses 8:13–30, part of Joseph Smith’s revision of Genesis. The Book of Moses adds much that Genesis leaves out: the Lord ordained Noah and sent him to “declare his Gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch” (Moses 8:19), and the people would not listen and sought his life (Moses 8:20; Moses 8:26). The notes below bring it in where it answers a question about a verse in Genesis.
Later scripture comes back to Noah often. Isaiah speaks of “the waters of Noah” (Isa. 54:9), Ezekiel names him with Daniel and Job (Ezek. 14:14), and Jesus, Hebrews, and Peter all return to him (Matt. 24:37–39; Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20). “The authenticity of the Genesis account of the Flood is confirmed by latter-day revelation.”
The thread through the chapter
Genesis 6 tells of a creation coming undone, in the words of the Creation. In chapter 1, “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Here “God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt” (verse 12). In Hebrew the two lines begin the same way, vayyar Elohim… vehinneh, “and God saw… and behold,” and the second reverses the first: what had been declared “good” in the Creation was “now reversed and undone through wickedness.” What God resolves to destroy is the list from the Creation: “man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air” (verse 7). The Flood that follows is commonly read as a re-creation, “paralleling the context and language of the creation stories in Genesis.”
The ruin is the people’s own doing. One Hebrew verb carries it: the earth “was corrupt,” all flesh “had corrupted his way,” and so God says, “I will destroy them” (verses 11–13; see the note on verse 13).
Against all this stands one man. When Noah was born, his father hoped that the boy would “comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands” (Gen. 5:29). Verse 6 uses the same two words of God. It “repented” the LORD (nacham, the verb translated “comfort”), and it “grieved” Him (yit‘atstsev, built on the same three letters as the word for “toil”). Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (verse 8). With him God will establish His covenant (verse 18), the first time the word covenant appears in the Bible. The chapter ends with a single line about Noah: “according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (verse 22).
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
The sons of God and the daughters of men
When people began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. The Lord said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man, for he is flesh. Yet his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and afterward too, when the sons of God had children by the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of old, men of renown.
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 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.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
The Lord’s grief
The Lord saw how great human wickedness had become on the earth, and that everything the thoughts of people’s hearts devised was evil all the time. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to the heart. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the people I have created, and with them the beasts, the creeping things, and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 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.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah in a corrupt world
This is the family history of Noah. Noah was a just man, of complete integrity in his generation, and Noah walked with God. He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and full of violence. God looked at the earth and saw how corrupt it was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. So God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. I am going to destroy them along with the earth.”
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
The ark
“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in it, and coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Make a window (or a roof) for the ark and finish it to a cubit from the top. Put the door in its side, and build it with lower, second, and third stories.
“I am bringing a flood of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh that has the breath of life under heaven. Everything on the earth will die. But with you I will establish my covenant. You will go into the ark, you and your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. Bring into the ark two of every kind of living thing, male and female, to keep them alive with you: two of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing will come to you. And take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up as food for you and for them.”
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Seeing Christ in Genesis 6
Jesus made the days of Noah a pattern for His own coming: “as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came” (Matt. 24:37–39). The Book of Moses puts those very words in the mouths of the men who answered Noah: “are we not eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage?” (Moses 8:21). What Noah preached to them was the gospel of Christ: “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Moses 8:24).
The generation that perished was not beyond His reach. Enoch was told that those who died in the Flood would be shut in a prison, but that the Lord’s Chosen “suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me” (Moses 7:38–39). Peter says that Christ “went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:19–20), and President Joseph F. Smith saw how: from among the righteous the Lord “organized his forces and appointed messengers” to carry the gospel to them (D&C 138:28–30). There “they would have the opportunity to be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and repent of their sins.”
Noah’s service to Christ did not end with the ark. Joseph Smith taught that Noah is Gabriel, who “stands next… to Adam” in the priesthood. As Gabriel he was sent to Mary to tell her that she would bear a son and “call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:26–31).
Worth exploring next
- Genesis 6 in the Book of Moses. Read Moses 8:13–30 beside verses 1–13.
- Enoch’s vision of the Flood. Moses 7:28–69: the God who weeps, the earth that mourns, and the covenant that Noah’s seed would survive.
- The days of Noah and the last days. Matt. 24:36–44; Luke 17:26–27; 1 Pet. 3:18–21; D&C 138:28–37.
- Another vessel “like unto the ark of Noah.” Ether 2:16–25; Ether 6:4–12.
- The Flood through the lens of the Restoration. “The Rainbow as a Token in Genesis” (in From Creation to Sinai, BYU Religious Studies Center) reads the whole Flood story, from Genesis 6 to the rainbow, with the Book of Moses.
Sources & further reading
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
- The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.
- “Genesis”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Noah”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Ark”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Gabriel”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Flood at Noah’s Time”, Guide to the Scriptures.
- Genesis 6–11; Moses 8, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
- Moses 7, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
- Genesis 4–11: The Patriarchs, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003).
- History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844], The Joseph Smith Papers, page 1755 (discourse of 15 Oct. 1843).
- Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839–A, as Reported by Unidentified Scribe, The Joseph Smith Papers, page 2.
- Russell M. Nelson, “Perfection Pending”, general conference, Oct. 1995.
- Russell M. Nelson, “The Atonement”, general conference, Oct. 1996.
- Aaron P. Schade, “The Rainbow as a Token in Genesis: Covenants and Promises in the Flood Story”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 115–62.
- Shon D. Hopkin, “The Covenant among Covenants: The Abrahamic Covenant and Biblical Covenant Making”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 223–50.
- Scripture Central, “Why Does Genesis Say That Enoch “Walked with God” and That “God Took Him”?”, KnoWhy #835, Jan. 20, 2026.
- Scripture Central, “Where did the Brother of Jared Get the Idea of Shining Stones?”, KnoWhy #240.
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
- R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch), In The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913); read on archive.org.
- Michael L. Rodkinson (trans.), New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud: Tract Sanhedrin, Vols. VII and VIII (XV and XVI) (Boston: The Talmud Society, 1918), 354–55; read on archive.org.