Sorrow [ʿeṣeb] is an equivocal term. It is a term denoting pain and aching: In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.1 It is also a term denoting anger: And his father had not caused him to be sorry at any time,2 which means that he had not angered him. For he was sorrowful for the sake of David;3 he was angry for his sake. The term also denotes contrariety and disobedience: They rebelled and caused sorrow to His holy spirit;4 And cause Him sorrow in the desert;5 If there be in me any way of causing sorrow;6 Every day they cause sorrow7 to my words.8 In accordance with the second or third sense it is said: He9 sorrowed unto His heart,10 In accordance with the second sense, the interpretation of the verse would be that God was angry with them11 because of their evil action. As for Scripture saying, unto his heart, it uses a similar expression in the story of Noah, namely: And God said unto His heart.12 Hear its meaning. The matter with regard to which it is said of [32b] a man that he said in his heart or said unto his heart is a matter to which that man does not give utterance and that he does not tell to somebody else. Similarly it is said of every matter willed by God of which He does not speak to a prophet at the time when He accomplished an act corresponding to His will in this regard: God said unto His heart. It is thus likened to the human matter in virtue of the continual use of the rule: The Torah speaketh in the language of the sons of man.13 This is clear and manifest. Inasmuch as it is not made clear in the Torah with regard to the disobedience of the generation of the flood that an envoy of God was sent to them at that time, nor that prohibitions were imposed on them and that they were threatened with destruction, it is said of them that God was angry with them in His heart. Similarly in regard to His will that there should not be another flood. He did not say to a prophet at that time: Go and inform them of this. For this reason it is said: unto His heart. As for the interpretation of the passage, He sorrowed unto His heart, according to the third sense, its meaning14 would be as follows: man went contrary to the will of God regarding him. For the term heart is also used to designate the will, as we shall make clear when treating of the equivocality of the term heart.15