Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ramban · Torah
Ramban on Genesis 6:6/רמב"ן על בראשית ו׳:ו׳
אוַיִּנָּחֶם ה' וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל לִבּוֹ דִּבְּרָה תּוֹרָה כִּלְשׁוֹן בְּנֵי אָדָם. וְהָעִנְיָן כִּי מָרוּ וְעִצְּבוּ אֶת רוּחַ קָדְשׁוֹ בְּפִשְׁעֵיהֶם. וְעִנְיַן "אֶל לִבּוֹ", כִּי לֹא הִגִּיד זֶה לְנָבִיא שָׁלוּחַ אֲלֵיהֶם, וְכֵן הַלָּשׁוֹן בַּמְּחֻשָּׁב, כְּדֶרֶךְ "לְדַבֵּר אֶל לִבִּי" (בראשית כ"ד:מ"ה) וְזוּלָתוֹ. וּבִבְרֵאשִׁית רַבָּה (בראשית רבה כ"ז:ד') אָמְרוּ בָּזֶה עִנְיָן נִכְבָּד בְּמָשָׁל שֶׁהֵבִיאוּ מִן הַסַּרְסוּר וְהָאַדְרִיכָל, וְהוּא סוֹד גָּדוֹל לֹא נִתַּן לִכָּתֵב, וְהַיּוֹדְעוֹ יִתְבּוֹנֵן לָמָּה אָמַר בְּכָאן שֵׁם הַמְיֻחָד וּבְכָל הַפָּרָשָׁה וְעִנְיַן הַמַּבּוּל שֵׁם אֱלֹהִים:
1AND THE ETERNAL REPENTED… AND IT GRIEVED HIM AT HIS HEART. The Torah speaks in the language of men. The purport is that they rebelled, and grieved His holy spirit514 with their sins. The sense of the expression at His heart is that He did not tell this to a prophet, a messenger of G-d. This expression is also found with respect to thinking, just as: to speak to my heart,515 and other similar expressions.In Bereshith Rabbah516 there is a significant matter concerning this, expressed by a parable which the Rabbis bring of an agent and an architect.517.” This constitutes a great secret which is not permitted to be written down. The one who knows it will understand why here the Tetragrammaton is written while in the whole of the rest of the chapter and the account of the flood, the name Elokim is used.