56. In the days of the flood, the Creator made the stalks of the wheat as thick as the branches of the cedars in Lebanon. They would not sow or reap, but the wind would blow and shed the wheat seeds, and they would collect them. So it was every year. After they sinned, He said, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease,” meaning they had to harvest.
57. The sentence of the generation of the flood was not sealed until they took to robbery, as it is written, “And the land was filled with robbery.”
58. In the days of the generation of the flood, there was plentiful multiplication, and from the moment when the woman delivered, they would be sent away like flock, as it is written, “They send out their little boys like flock, and their children dance.” After all that, it is written, “They say to God, ‘Move away from us! We do not desire the knowledge of Your ways,” until their sentence was decreed and He removed them from the world.
59. Noah cautioned them beforehand but they would not listen to him. He stalled in building the ark so they would see and repent, but they would taunt him until the abyss overcame them, since the water emerged as boiling as fire, and the water from above, and they were wiped out from the world.
60. It is written, “HaVaYaH [the Lord] sat in the flood, and the Lord sits as king forever.” Did David have to say this thing, that He sat as king forever since the time of the flood? After all, the whole world knows that He is the first, and He is the last, then, and before. He was then, and He was before. So why did he say, “The Lord sat in the flood, and the Lord sits as king forever,” and not before the flood?
61. In every place, Elokim is the quality of judgment and the Lord is the quality of mercy. Although the flood is from the quality of judgment, there was also the quality of mercy in it, for otherwise, the world would have been destroyed. But for the sake of that quality of mercy, the name HaVaYaH, the world was settled, since He saved Noah and his sons. This is why he said, “The Lord sat in the flood,” the quality of mercy, which is why the world was not ruined. And therefore, “The Lord sits as king forever.”
62. This remedy is in every judgment that he does, as it is written, “And the Lord rained on Sodom. He is the quality of mercy, which is why a relic remained of it, namely Lot and his daughters. “And the Lord plagued the people.” The Lord is the quality of mercy; and for this reason, a remainder was left of it, and so are everyone.
63. The generation of the flood were very wise, and knew what was about to happen. However, they took intellect into their hearts, meaning they were being smarty and said, “If the Creator brings a flood, we are tall people and we will sail on the water and be saved. And if He brings water from the deep, we will put our feet on the hole, the water will not come out, and we will be saved.”
64. When the flood came, the Creator boiled the waters of the deep, and when they placed their feet on the fountain of water, their skin was peeled off from them and they fell. Also, the water above were increasing along with the waters of the deep, and the people of the flood were rolling down to Babylon, disintegrating in the boiling of the deep.
65. “And they came to Noah, to the ark, two by two, of all flesh in which there is the breath of life.” It is written, “Blessed is the man You choose and bring closer, that he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy hall.” One should be so careful and check himself and his actions each and every day.
66. When he rises in the morning, he should say, “May it please You, the Lord my God, that my heart will be steadfast and devoted in my hand, so I do not forget You.” If he sets his foot to walk, he should watch the steps of his feet so they do not veer off to evil. If he goes to do a commandment, he should run, as it is written, “They will walk after the Lord; He will roar like a lion.” Even on Shabbat [Sabbath], when it is forbidden to walk in haste, it is a commandment to run to perform a commandment.
When the whole day has passed, one should examine oneself, and what he did that day. If he should repent, he should repent immediately, before he goes to sleep.