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Genesis 8 · a question people ask

God promises not to curse the ground again "because the imagination of man's heart is evil". Why "because"?

Interpretation

The small Hebrew word ki most often means "because" or "for", but Brown-Driver-Briggs notes it can also carry the sense "though". English translations differ here: the WEB has "because", while some modern translations have "even though". Protestants read the verse both ways, and both readings end in the same promise.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

"Though" their hearts are evil

God promises to hold back judgment even though people haven't changed. The promise rests on his mercy, not on anything better in them. This reading takes ki in the sense "though", which Brown-Driver-Briggs lists.

Genesis 8:21 · Genesis 6:5

"Because" their hearts are evil

This reading takes ki in its most common sense, as the WEB does. A flood can't cure the human heart, so God won't use one again; people being evil "from his youth" is the reason judgment by flood will not be repeated.

Genesis 8:21

The verses

“The LORD smelled the pleasant aroma. The LORD said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.”
Genesis 8:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 8

Genesis 8: God remembered Noah

The flood turns on three words: "God remembered Noah." The ship rests on the mountains of a land, not one named peak; Noah goes out only when God says so; and the first altar in the Bible is followed by a promise that seed time and harvest will not cease.

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions