and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was greatly distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people

for as long as that righteous man lived among them, day after day he was being tortured in his righteous soul by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions

But he was rebuked for his offense. A donkey that normally cannot talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's insanity.

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn their backs on the holy commandment that was committed to them.

But they deliberately ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth was formed by God's word out of water and with water,

by which the world at that time was deluged with water and destroyed.