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Genesis 6 says that human life will be limited to 120 years, often interpreted as a restriction on the human lifespan. The Aramaic Targum Neofiti expands this while connecting the length of time to divine patience and the opportunity for repentance.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
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: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Neofiti Genesis 6:3
Targum
1 And when people began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of the judges saw that the daughters of people were beautiful to look at, and they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, “None of the generations that are to arise will be judged by the order of judgment of the generation of the flood. Is not the order of judgment of the generation of the flood sealed before him, that it be destroyed and wiped out from the midst of the world? Look, I put my spirit in people, because they are flesh and their deeds are evil. Look, I have given you a reprieve of a hundred and twenty years, in case they might repent, and they have not done so.” 4 The giants were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, after the sons of the judges went in to the daughters of people and they bore them children. These are the giants who from the beginning of the world were mighty men known by their names. 5 And it was revealed before the Lord that the wickedness of people was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their heart pondered nothing but evil all day long.
Date: 300–600 CE (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: וחי ... פן לעולם 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 ..."
Jaap Doedens, The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1–4: Analysis and History of Exegesis, OtSt 76 (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 51.
* 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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