narrator for once speaks quite freely and without dependence on older material. These words, therefore, have for us programmatic significance, not only for the understanding of the Flood story but also for the entire Yahwistic primeval history. They show something of its literary technique (see the epilogue to the Yahwistic primeval history, pp. 152 ff.). In substance, these verses contain a reflection about the extent of sin which has overtaken man. While the narrator up to this point simply described