Mitchell at ve’al timkor is discussing the meaning of Genesis 6:3. Please go see his post and another thought . . ..
I read this in the NLT which reads:
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.”
So naturally at first reading I thought this is why the lifespan of Adam and his descendants living around 900 years and then they got shorter. However Mitchell doesn’t see it this way so I looked it up in other translations and found this:
Genesis 6:3 NET
So the LORD said, “My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”
My question is why are these translations so different? Any Hebrew people want to tackle it?
Now, I don’t qualify as a Hebrew person, but until a Hebrew person chimes in, I’ve put my analysis of the verse (explaining exactly what the Hebrew literally says) here: http://fontwords.com/?p=835.
Thank you for looking into this. It’s pretty important to me just because I want to have a good handle on interpretive stuff as mentioned in the About page.
Jeff
Any time. One of my favorite things is comparing interpretations and translations of verses. If you ever have a verse you’d like some input on and you don’t have a genuine specialist available, I’d be willing to give it a look.
Will do.
It’s always interesting to see variations like this.
The NLTSB note has the following:
normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years (literally his days will be 120 years): It is possible that this was a new restriction on the number of years individuals would generally be allowed to live (so the NLT). However, for generations after the flood, humans lived well beyond 120 years (see, e.g., 11:10-26). An alternative interpretation sees this as a 120-year grace period before the arrival of the flood (see Jon 3:4; Matt 24:37-38; 1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 2:5).
The ESVSB note also has something similar:
God announces that because of the immoral nature of people, their days shall be 120 years. There are two possible interpretations of this number of years: either the lives of human beings will no longer exceed 120 years, or the coming of the flood is anticipated in 120 years. While the latter interpretation is simpler, the former interpretation is appealing, and would be true as a generalization even though some of those who live after the flood (e.g., Abraham) enjoy lives in excess of 120 years.
You probably already have both of those resources
Joe, I do have both of those resources and have been intending to look at them but kept forgetting. Thanks for posting them.
So the lifespan idea may be viable… That’s the one I like but that doesn’t really make any difference.
I believe Mitchell came up with the other one and another one on his own.
Jeff