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) 9 —if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment, 10 especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,

The Gemara answers: It was taught in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa: There is a parable for this matter, to a man who fashioned a wedding canopy for his son and prepared all sorts of food for the wedding feast. Sometime later, before the wedding, his son died. What did the man do? He arose and dismantled his son’s wedding canopy. He said: Did I do this for any reason other than for my son? Now that my son has died, why do I need a wedding canopy? So too, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Did I create domesticated animals and non-domesticated animals for any reason other than for man? Now that man sins and is sentenced to destruction, why do I need domesticated animals and non-domesticated animals? It is written: “Of all that was on dry land died” (Genesis 7:22), from which it is inferred: But not the fish that are in the sea, which are not on dry land. Rabbi Yosei from Caesarea taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “He is swift upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; he turns not by way of the vineyards” (Job 24:18)? This teaches that Noah the righteous would rebuke the people of his generation and say to them: Repent. And if you do not, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring a flood upon you and float your corpses on the water like wineskins filled with air that float on water, as it is stated: “He is swift upon the face of the waters.” Moreover, a curse is taken from them to all who enter the world, as people will curse others, saying: They shall be like the generation of the flood. As it is stated: “Their portion is cursed in the earth.”