Gen 6:5–7: the heart of man and the Lord's regret

Says 6:5: וַיַּרְא יְהוָה, "and the Lord saw," כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ, "that great was the evil of man on the earth," and וְכָל־יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ, "every form of the thoughts of his heart" (BDB on the noun, "form, framing, purpose," "of what is framed in the mind"), רַק רַע כָּל־הַיּוֹם, "only evil all the day" (xref.Gen.6.5.Gen.8.21.heb). 6:6 opens וַיִּנָּחֶם, a Niphal ("regretted," BSB), for which BDB gives "be sorry, moved to pity, have compassion," "rue, suffer grief, repent, of one’s own doings," and "comfort oneself, be comforted." With it, וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ, a Hithpael, "and he was pained to his heart" ("grieved," BSB). In 6:7 God says אֶמְחֶה, "I will wipe out," and the Niphal returns, נִחַמְתִּי, "I am sorry" ("I am grieved," BSB). The Piel is "comfort" at 5:29 (note.language.Gen.5.28-Gen.5.31.lamech-noah-naming). Swete has ἐνεθυμήθη … διενοήθη, "pondered … considered," and ἐθυμώθην, "I was angered."

Implies In the Niphal the root runs from regret over one's own deeds to pity and comfort; here its object, "that he had made man," sets it with regret over a deed of one's own.

Uncertain Hebrew speaks of God's regret, pain and heart as of people's, a feature of the language. The root is used of God regretting (1 Sam 15:11, 35) and of God, not a man, not relenting (Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29). Either the wording fits human understanding, or it tells a real response to sin within an unchanging purpose; the words do not settle it. No lean is taken here.