Etymology 'evil' and 'regret' in Genesis 6:5-6

image search "etymological dictionary" (screenshot)

Tuesday Bible Study this week began with God's great disappointment with human inclination to fail at righteousness and to fall into corruption and violence. Later God give Noah measurements for the Ark and the passenger list, then made the rain. After extinguishing all other life from land and air except aboard the ark, things fair up and Creation has a restart. The original passage of chapter 6 was written down first in Hebrew, but here it is in the NIV in English translation as, "...every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled."

One question is about the source word 'evil'. Leaving aside Hebrew word choice, along with its root and relatives, as well as (then and now) connotation, perhaps some clue about the nature of 'evil' can be found from English in the dictionary. Likewise of the fundamental meaning of regret; regretfulness.

[credit: Primidi.com, emphasis added] ...The root meaning of the word is of obscure origin though shown to be akin to modern German Das Übel (although 'Evil' is normally translated as 'Das Böse') with the basic idea of transgressing.

Comment: breaking boundaries and exceeding limits, being improper or not right [righteous, rectitude] are some of the allied ideas. So the quote, "thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time," seems to point to the built-in propensity to veer off course, miss the mark, sin. Thus "evil" is not the absence of blessing or goodness or holiness. Rather, it is accidental, inherent, or intended steering off course. Elsewhere 'satan' or 'fallen angel Lucifer' is asserted as the embodiment of evil and master of worldliness. But here in Genesis, it is God's estimation that [before the flood, at least] evil is basic to human hearts.

Looking at regret's etymology, [credit: etymologeek.com, emphasis added] ...re (again) greter (Old French: weep, mourn, lament): Emotional pain on account of something done or experienced in the past, with a wish that it had been different.

Comment: Here is God emoting. Since mankind sins at the level of heart, never mind the exterior physical world, that decision to give breath/animating spirit [ruach in Hebrew] now in Genesis chapter 6 is the source of God's feelings of regret over past action.

In the context of Noah and the great flood to extinguish almost all of life, including the human ones, and start again with a view to less evil and more righteous instincts, these two terms - evil in human hearts and regret in God's own heart suggest a few things. One is that evil is inherent in living experience. Temptation is present in all places and times; there is potential to do evil, but also to do good. Therefore, the first advice is to pay attention and be alert to opportunities to go beyond one's own small existence and do good with and for others. At the same time, beware of false opportunities in self and others to do evil. Another observation that comes from examining 'evil' in people and 'regret' felt by God is that an essential, fundamental and vital tension exists between evil (man's ways) and righteousness (God's ways). If the condition of life were ONLY evil or ONLY righteousness then there would be no tension; no life, no risk of failing, no reward from getting in right relationship with God's ways. And while it sometimes looks like there is so much that is bad in the world and that things seem not to change, according to the principle of "dynamic equilibrium" (think of treading water: maintaining some equilibrium with head above water, but beneath the surface there is a whole lot of motion), the surface can look like it is not moving, while in fact several different forces are in tension to produce the appearance of equilibrium. Likewise, perhaps, this tension exists between human hearts (inclined to evil) and God's ways (righteousness) to produce the central life-filling experience of so many generations before and after the one we belong to.