God sees that human wickedness is great on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart is only evil all the time. This verse is one of the most sobering theological statements in the Bible — not a hyperbolic exaggeration but a divine diagnosis. The word 'every,' 'only,' and 'all the time' are all present in the Hebrew — the totality of the corruption is emphasized. This is not a description of occasional failure but of a pervaded condition, a heart whose default direction has become consistently and comprehensively evil. Jeremiah 17:9 echoes this: the heart is deceitful above all things. Romans 3:10–12 quotes the Psalms to the same effect. Yet the verse follows with God's emotional response in verse 6, not with indifferent judgment — suggesting that the diagnosis comes from a heart that still cares deeply about what it sees. The application: honest self-knowledge begins with taking seriously what God says about the default condition of the human heart — including your own. This verse is not only about Noah's generation.

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