Bible Strands
Genesis 6:8
Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A narrative statement, not direct speech, placed between God's declaration that He will blot out all life (6:7) and the introduction of Noah's character (6:9). It is the hinge on which the flood narrative turns.
The words — חֵן (chen, "favor") is the operative noun; it carries the sense of unmerited goodwill, the same word used when Lot pleads "I have found favor in your sight" (Gen 19:19). The verb מָצָא (matza', "he found") frames favor as something Noah actively came upon, not something he earned.
The thread — The pairing of chen with "walking with the LORD" recurs in Psalms 84:11, where grace is withheld from no one who walks with God. Hebrews 4:16 echoes the "find grace" language as the posture of approach before God.
Why it lands — The verse isolates one man against a total verdict and offers no explanation for the selection beyond the next verse's "walked with God." It forces the reader to sit with the asymmetry: same generation, same corruption, one exception.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Cross-references
- Genesis 19:19 Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
- Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
- Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
- Psalms 145:20 The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
- Luke 1:30 So the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
- Exodus 33:12 Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’
- Proverbs 3:4 Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.
- Acts 7:46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
- Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.