The מַבּוּל (mabul, flood) ends, and Noah and his family come out of their תֵּבָה (teivah, ark). Noah builds a מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbei’ah, altar), and offers sacrifices to God.
Here is God’s response:
וַיָּרַח ה' אֶת רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ
וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל לִבּוֹ
לֹא אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּר הָאָדָם
כִּי יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע מִנְּעֻרָיו
וְלֹא אֹסִף עוֹד לְהַכּוֹת אֶת כׇּל חַי כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי:
God smelled the pleasing odor,
and God said in God’s heart:
“I will never again doom the earth because of humanity,
since the yetzer (conscience) of the human mind is evil from youth;
and I will never again destroy every living being, as I have done.”
- What do you notice? What are you wondering about?
- How do you understand God’s words? What do you think about the idea that it’s in peoples’ nature to be bad? What do you think that’s talking about?
- Compare this pasuk to what God says about humans’ yetzer before God brought the mabul! Look it up: Bereishit 6:5-7. There, it seems that having an evil yetzer could be a reason to punish the people, but here it looks like a reason not to punish the people. How do you understand God before the mabul, and how do you understand God after? What do you think changed?
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