Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Genesis 6:3 states that human life will be limited to 120 years, a detail often interpreted as a restriction on the human lifespan. The Aramaic Targum Neofiti expands this interpretation while connecting the length of time to divine patience and the opportunity for repentance.
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Genesis 6:3
Hebrew Bible
1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men. 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Neofiti Genesis 6:3
Targum
And the Lord said by His Word, All the generations of the wicked which are to arise shall not be purged after the order of the judgments of the generation of the deluge, which shall be destroyed and exterminated from the midst of the world. Have I not imparted My Holy Spirit to them (or, placed My Holy Spirit in them), that they may work good works? and, behold, their works are wicked. Behold, I will give them a prolongment of a hundred and twenty years, that they may work repentance, and not perish.
Date: 300-600 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The relationship, if any, of the number of 120 [years] in Genesis 6:3 to the 1,200 mentioned in the Mesopotamian flood story can thus be assumed to be superficial. It can be concluded that extra-biblical data is of little help in either approach. Nonetheless, biblical texts may offer leeway for the interpretation of 120 years in Genesis 6:3 as pertaining to putting limits on human lifespan. (1) Genesis 3:22 describes how God prevents man from living forever: יחו ... ןפ םלעל Genesis 6:3, then, takes up this ‘not forever’ and describes human lifespan as being restricted to 120 years. (2) The theme of repentance is not touched upon in the text, neither in Genesis 6:3, nor subsequently, yet somehow this is to be expected if the 120 years is to be understood as a period of grace. (3) The wording ‘his days’ combined with a reference to mortality (‘he is flesh’) supports an interpretation which views the 120 years as indicative of a lifespan, comparable with Genesis 5, where the repeated phrase “all the days of X were n years, and he died” refers to lifespan ..."
Doedens, Jaap
The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4: Analysis and History of Exegesis
(p. 51) Brill, 2019
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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