Genesis 2:8

2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard ¹  in the east, ²  in Eden; ³  and there he placed the man he had formed. ⁴ 

Genesis 6:5

6:5 But the Lord saw ⁵  that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination ⁶  of the thoughts ⁷  of their minds ⁸  was only evil ⁹  all the time. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 8:21

8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ¹¹  and said ¹²  to himself, ¹³  “I will never again curse ¹⁴  the ground because of humankind, even though ¹⁵  the inclination of their minds ¹⁶  is evil from childhood on. ¹⁷  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

[2:8]  ¹ tn Traditionally “garden,” but the subsequent description of this “garden” makes it clear that it is an orchard of fruit trees.

[2:8]  ² tn Heb “from the east” or “off east.”

[2:8]  ³ sn The name Eden (עֵדֶן, ’eden) means “pleasure” in Hebrew.

[2:8]  ⁴ tn The perfect verbal form here requires the past perfect translation since it describes an event that preceded the event described in the main clause.

[6:5]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew verb translated “saw” (רָאָה, ra’ah), used here of God’s evaluation of humankind’s evil deeds, contrasts with God’s evaluation of creative work in Gen 1, when he observed that everything was good.

[6:5]  ⁶ tn The noun יֵצֶר (yetser) is related to the verb יָצָר (yatsar, “to form, to fashion [with a design]”). Here it refers to human plans or intentions (see Gen 8:21; 1 Chr 28:9; 29:18). People had taken their God-given capacities and used them to devise evil. The word יֵצֶר (yetser) became a significant theological term in Rabbinic literature for what might be called the sin nature – the evil inclination (see also R. E. Murphy, “Yeser in the Qumran Literature,” Bib 39 [1958]: 334-44).

[6:5]  ⁷ tn The related verb הָשָׁב (hashav) means “to think, to devise, to reckon.” The noun (here) refers to thoughts or considerations.

[6:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “his heart” (referring to collective “humankind”). The Hebrew term לֵב (lev, “heart”) frequently refers to the seat of one’s thoughts (see BDB 524 s.v. לֵב). In contemporary English this is typically referred to as the “mind.”

[6:5]  ⁹ sn Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil. There is hardly a stronger statement of the wickedness of the human race than this. Here is the result of falling into the “knowledge of good and evil”: Evil becomes dominant, and the good is ruined by the evil.

[6:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the day.”

[8:21]  ⁹ tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

[8:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

[8:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[8:21]  ¹² tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

[8:21]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

[8:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

[8:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from his youth.”