Barry:

It sure will help if you deal with all the argument presented. I mentioned idioms and words. I could have added syntactical options.  I also noted that at spots we can take a verse and we might prefer one translation over another at a particular point. My point is that the translator has numerous points in a verse where judgments are made. One needs to do this with care and I know that is what you are rightly concerned about. This is why teams of translators work on the major translations.

As to "what if their guess is wrong." First, it is usually not a guess (that makes it sound pretty random and so is a rhetorical characterization of the process), but a possible rendering. Second the use of multiple translations will usually surface where the uncertainty or debate about precise meaning might be, making the point I was originally making; there is value in working with multiple translations because the differences between them can show these issues.

But let's take a closer look at your compaint in Genesis 6:3. What makes flesh flesh (merely that it is material or matter)? No, there is more to it than to say it is fleshy stuff. The point surely is that flesh is described as flesh because it is not immortal and what makes it temporary is the judgment that fell on flesh as a result of sin (as the context of Gen 3 has told us before we get here).  I do not know what edition of HALOT you are reading but I have in the entry the following under the term BASAR and living flesh: entry 8 "b) what is frail, transient (sarx in the NT)" texts noted are: Is 10:18; 31:3; Ezek 44:7. You might also check Is 40:6- "all flesh is grass" pointing by idiom to this association (also Zech 14:12 is rendered rotting flesh in flesh as part of body). Here is what Brown-Driver-Briggs says, "5. man over against God as frail or erring Gn 6:3". This all points to transience associated with the term. So perhaps the dynamic translation as not as far off as you suggest in this verse.

Hope this helps. Believe me I understand the concern and want the text rendered faithfully like you do. It does no one any good not to render the Word carefully. Clarity in terms of force can do that. It is worth the effort.

dlb