Genesis 6:5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

God saw that the wickedness of man, &c. Abundance of sin was committed in all places, by all sorts of people; and those sins in their own nature most gross, and heinous, and provoking; and committed daringly, and in defiance of heaven. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually A sad sight, and very offensive to God's holy eye! This was the bitter root, the corrupt spring: all the violence and oppression, all the luxury and wantonness that was in the world, proceeded from the corruption of nature; lust conceived them, James 1:15, see Matthew 15:19. The heart was evil, deceitful, and desperately wicked; the principles were corrupt, and the habits and dispositions evil. The thoughts of the heart were so. Thought is sometimes taken for the settled judgment, and that was biased and misled; sometimes for the workings of the fancy, and those were always either vain or evil. The imagination of the thoughts of the heart was so; that is, their designs and devices were wicked. They did not do evil only through carelessness, but deliberately and designedly contrived how to do mischief. It was bad indeed, for it was only evil, continually evil, and every imagination was so. There was no good to be found among them, no, not at any time: the stream of sin was full, and strong, and constant; and God saw it. Here is God's resentment of man's wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father sees the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child, which not only displeases but grieves him, and makes him wish he had been written childless.