Genesis 6:5

Summary

The verse describes Yehovah's observation regarding humankind: their evil was great on the earth, and every inclination of their heart's thoughts was continuously and exclusively directed toward evil.

Key words

• va-yar' ("and he saw", H7200G) — qal narrative verb form, marking the main narrative action that structures the whole verse as Yehovah's perception.
• ra'at ("evil of", H7451I) — feminine singular construct noun, linking grammatically to ha-'adam ("humankind", H0120G) as "the evil of humankind."
• yetzer ("inclination of", H3336) — masculine singular construct, the first of a chain of three construct nouns (yetzer → machshevot → lib-o) meaning literally "the inclination of the thoughts of his heart."
• machshevot ("thoughts of", H4284) — feminine plural construct, continuing the construct chain, specifying that the "inclination" concerns "thoughts."
• rak ("only", H7535) — adverb restricting the following adjective ra' ("evil", H7451H) to an exclusive sense: nothing but evil.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two parallel clauses introduced by the particle ki ("that", H3588A), both governed by the verb va-yar' ("and he saw"). The first clause states that ra'at ha-'adam ("the evil of humankind") was rabbah ("great", H7227A) ba-'aretz ("on the earth"). The second clause, joined by ve- ("and", H9002), describes kol-yetzer machshevot lib-o — a chain of four nouns in construct relation ("every inclination of the thoughts of his heart") — as being rak ra' ("only evil", H7535 + H7451H) kol ha-yom ("all the day", i.e., continually).

The construct chain in items 12-16 is a grammatical feature that cannot be fully replicated in translation without stacking multiple "of" phrases: kol ("every") governs yetzer ("inclination"), which governs machshevot ("thoughts"), which governs lib-o ("his heart"). This creates a cumulative intensification—not simply "evil thoughts" but an "inclination" rooted in "thoughts" rooted in "heart," each noun modifying the next in sequence. The adverb rak ("only") before the adjective ra' ("evil") restricts the scope absolutely: the text does not say the inclination was "mostly" or "often" evil, but rak ra', admitting no exception, reinforced by kol ha-yom ("every day" / "all the time").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew construct chain (yetzer machshevot libbo) more simply as "everyone plots (διανοεῖται) in his heart," omitting the layered noun-chain structure and instead using a finite verb ("plots") where the Hebrew has a noun ("inclination"). The Vulgate's cuncta cogitatio cordis ("all the thought of the heart") similarly compresses the three-noun Hebrew chain into two Latin nouns, losing the intermediate term yetzer ("inclination").