Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
- BSB So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”
- NKJV And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
- NASB Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”
- NLT 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.”
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
God declares that his Spirit will not contend with sinful humanity forever and sets a limit of 120 years. It signals coming judgment while still extending a measure of patience.
Overview
Set against the spread of corruption before the flood, this verse shows God responding to persistent human rebellion. The "120 years" is most often read either as a span of patience before the flood or as a new limit on human lifespan; faithful interpreters differ. Either way it reveals a God who is patient yet whose forbearance has limits, anticipating the gospel pattern of grace offered before judgment falls.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Neh 9:30Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet would they not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
- Isa 63:10But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
- 1 Pet 3:18–20Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
- Jer 11:11Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to them.
- Ps 78:39He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
- Gal 5:16–24But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
- Acts 7:51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Rom 8:1–13There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
- Num 11:17I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.
- John 3:6That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
- 1 Th 5:19Don’t quench the Spirit.
- Isa 5:4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
- Jer 11:7For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey my voice.”
- Jude 1:14–15About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 6:3 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.