Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them.
Parallel translations
- WEB When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
- KJV And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
- BSB Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,
- NKJV Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
- NASB Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As humanity multiplies on the earth, daughters are born to them. It sets the scene for the corruption that provokes the coming flood.
Overview
Humanity's increase fulfills the creation mandate to multiply, but the narrative turns toward the moral decline that follows. The mention of daughters being born introduces the troubling events of the next verse. This opening frames the growing wickedness that will lead God to bring judgment through the flood.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Gen 1:28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 6:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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