That’s essentially Noah's predicament in the lead-up to the Flood.

According to Legends of the Jews, even after God decided, with a heavy heart, that the world had become too corrupt to continue, He still gave humanity one last chance. Mercy, it seems, always gets a final word. So, He sent Noah.

For 120 years, Noah became a walking, talking, preaching billboard. He warned them, pleaded with them, trying to turn them away from their wicked ways. He held the threat of the coming flood over their heads, hoping to shock them into repentance.

And how did they respond? They mocked him. Can you imagine the scene? Noah, diligently working on this massive ark, surrounded by jeering crowds. "Hey Noah, whatcha building?" "Going on a cruise, old man?" They just didn't take him seriously. Not one bit.

Their arrogance is almost unbelievable. They saw Noah building the ark, this gigantic vessel, and instead of being afraid, they were… defiant. "What’s with the ark, Noah?" they’d ask, their voices dripping with sarcasm. "What sort of flood are you expecting?"

And their hubris just escalates from there. "If He sends a fire flood," they bragged, "we know how to protect ourselves." They had a solution for everything, or so they thought. According to Ginzberg's retelling, they were convinced they could handle anything God threw at them.

And what about a flood of water? No problem! "If the waters bubble up from the earth," they declared, "we will cover them with iron rods!" They thought they could simply barricade themselves against divine judgment. And if the water came from above? "We know a remedy against that, too!" They had answers for everything, except, of course, for genuine remorse.

It's a chilling reminder, isn't it? How easily we can become convinced of our own invincibility, how deaf we can become to warnings, even when they're shouted from the rooftops – or, in this case, from the deck of a giant, half-finished ark. It makes you wonder, what are the "arks" we're ignoring today? What warnings are we dismissing, confident in our own solutions, while the storm clouds gather on the horizon?