⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that ^(A)every intent of the thoughts of ^[a]their hearts was only evil continually.

²¹ The Lord ^(A)smelled the soothing aroma, and the Lord said ^[a]to Himself, “I will never again ^(B)curse the ground on account of man, for ^(C)the ^[b]intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(D)and I will never again ^[c]destroy every living thing, as I have done.

¹² You too have done evil, even ^(A)more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the ^(B)stubbornness of his own ^(C)evil heart, without listening to Me.

¹² But ^(A)they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will ^[a]persist in the ^(B)stubbornness of his evil heart.’

²⁴ Yet they ^(A)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[a](B)went backward and not forward.

¹⁰ This wicked people, who ^(A)refuse to listen to My words, who ^(B)walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless.