Waters of Blessing and Destruction

(12) (The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.) (13) That same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, went into the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons— (14) they and all beasts of every kind, all cattle of every kind, all creatures of every kind that creep on the earth, and all birds of every kind, every bird, every winged thing. (15) They came to Noah into the ark, two each of all flesh in which there was breath of life. (16) Thus they that entered comprised male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And ה' shut him in. (17) The Flood continued forty days on the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark so that it rose above the earth.

THE RAIN FELL ON THE EARTH— But later on it says, “And the Flood was upon the earth”! But the explanation is this: when God poured down the water, at first God poured it down in mercy (gently), so that if the people repented, it would be rain of blessing; but when they did not repent it became a (destructive) flood.