Genesis 6:6

And it repented the Lord … grieved him at his heart This is a strong instance of what is called anthropomorphism, an expression descriptive of human emotion or action ascribed to Jehovah (e.g. Genesis 3:8; Genesis 7:16; Genesis 8:21). Such expressions have often given rise to superficial criticisms, depreciatory of Holy Scripture, on the part both of those who are ignorant of Oriental literature, and of those who assume that the Books of Holy Scripture must be free from the literary characteristics of the writers" age and nationality. In this verse Jehovah is represented as intensely grieved at the frustration of His purposes for the human race. The description is given in the childlike simplicity of the language of an early age: compare Genesis 11:5-6; Genesis 18:21.

In other passages, e.g. Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29, it is asserted that Jehovah is not, like man, capable of repentance. There are two representations in Holy Scripture of the Divine Nature: one, which, as here, makes the Divine Purpose fluctuate, in reflexion, as it were, of man's changing experiences; the other, which depicts the Divine Purpose as uniform, changeless, and unvarying, cf. James 1:17.

It was the dread of any expression being liable to the suspicion of irreverence towards the Almighty, which led to the strange renderings of this verse by the later Jews. Thus, LXX renders "repented" by ἐνεθυμήθη = "considered," and "grieved" by διενοήθη = "purposed," while the Targum of Onkelos renders the second clause "and spake by his word to break their strength according to his will," and Pseudo-Jonathan, "and disputed with his word concerning them." The object of such paraphrases is to avoid anthropomorphism. The LXX also avoids the expression of repentance as applied to God in Exodus 32:12.

The Latin rendering is quite free from any such shrinking, and is noteworthy: poenituit eum et tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus.