4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into Tartarus¹⁶ and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world, 6 and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men, 8 (for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)

[Noah was in his generations] a man [righteous and whole-hearted]. Wherever 'a man ' occurs, it indicates a righteous man who warned [his generation]. For a whole one hundred and twenty years Noah planted cedars and cut them down. On being asked, 'Why are you doing this?' he replied: 'The Lord of the universe has informed me that He will bring a Flood in the world/ Said they [his contemporaries] to him: 'If a Flood does come, it will come only upon your father's house!' Thus it is written, A contemptible brand (lappid buz) in the thought of him that is at ease> a thing ready for them whose foot slippeth. R. Abba interpreted: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: 'One herald arose for me in the generation of the Flood, Noah.' For elsewhere people say, 'Arouse him, stir him up!' 'Buz' (contempt) intimates that they despised him and called him, 'Contemptible old man! ' In the thought of (le-'ashtoth) him that is at ease: this teaches that they were as hard as metal ('ashtoth). A thing ready for them whose foot slippeth; two disasters were ready for them: a disaster from above and a disaster from below.