Genesis 6:12

God saw the earth, and indeed ¹  it was ruined, ²  for all living creatures ³  on the earth were sinful. ⁴ 

God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere.

God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting--life itself corrupt to the core.

And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.

And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth.

So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

God saw the earth, and indeed ¹  it was ruined, ²  for all living creatures ³  on the earth were sinful. ⁴ 

¹ tn Or “God saw how corrupt the earth was.”

² tn The repetition in the text (see v. 11) emphasizes the point.

³ tn Heb “flesh.” Since moral corruption is in view here, most modern western interpreters understand the referent to be humankind. However, the phrase “all flesh” is used consistently of humankind and the animals in Gen 6-9 (6:17, 19; 7:15-16, 21; 8:17; 9:11, 15-17), suggesting that the author intends to picture all living creatures, humankind and animals, as guilty of moral failure. This would explain why the animals, not just humankind, are victims of the ensuing divine judgment. The OT sometimes views animals as morally culpable (Gen 9:5; Exod 21:28-29; Jonah 3:7-8). The OT also teaches that a person’s sin can contaminate others (people and animals) in the sinful person’s sphere (see the story of Achan, especially Josh 7:10). So the animals could be viewed here as morally contaminated because of their association with sinful humankind.

⁴ tn Heb “had corrupted its way.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix on “way” refers to the collective “all flesh.” The construction “corrupt one’s way” occurs only here (though Ezek 16:47 uses the Hiphil in an intransitive sense with the preposition בְּ [bet, “in”] followed by “ways”). The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) means “to ruin, to destroy, to corrupt,” often as here in a moral/ethical sense. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to behavior or moral character, a sense that it frequently carries (see BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a).