1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. 10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
As much as Noah’s family preserved the memory of who God was, the rest of mankind was the opposite. This passage emphasizes that point several times. All mankind had become evil in their hearts. Even though Noah and his family found favor in the eyes of God, they either didn’t do a very good job of influencing their neighbors, or their neighbors were just beyond hope by this time. At any rate, we know what happened next, and even though God promised he would never do it again, it is a call to action for us today. We could very easily say today that ‘all flesh has corrupted their way upon the earth.’ It certainly seems that way, but God has lain it upon us to try and spread the gospel. There is no plan B now, we are it.