וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֱלֹקִ֔ים אֶת־נֹ֖חַ וְאֶת־בָּנָ֑יו וַיֹּ֧אמֶר לָהֶ֛ם פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֖וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
לֹא־יָרֵ֥עוּ וְלֹֽא־יַשְׁחִ֖יתוּ בְּכׇל־הַ֣ר קׇדְשִׁ֑י כִּֽי־מָלְאָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ דֵּעָה֙ אֶת־ה' כַּמַּ֖יִם לַיָּ֥ם מְכַסִּֽים׃ {ס}
Nothing evil or vile shall be done;
For the land shall be filled with devotion to the LORD
As water covers the sea.
(1) “God said: Let the water under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so” (Genesis 1:9).
...
Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let the water eagerly await [yekavu] for Me, for what I am going to do with it in the future.’ This is analogous to a king who built a palace and settled mute people in it. They would rise early and inquire regarding the king’s wellbeing with gestures, with fingers, and with kerchiefs. The king said: ‘If they could speak, would it not be even more so?’ This was a rhetorical question. The king then settled speaking residents in it. They rose and seized the palace and said: ‘This palace is not the king’s; it is ours.’ The king said: ‘Let the palace be restored to its previous state.’ So, from the beginning of the creation of the world the praises of the Holy One blessed be He would arise only from the water, as it is written: “It is from the sound of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea” (Psalms 93:4). What would they say? “The Lord is mighty on High” (Psalms 93:4). [God said:] ‘If these [waters] that have no ability to talk and speak, and yet they laud Me, when I create Man, all the more so.’ [But] the generation of the Flood arose and rebelled against Him, the generation of Enosh arose and rebelled against Him, the generation of the Dispersion arose and rebelled against Him. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Let these [mankind] be expelled, and let those who had dwelled here before arise and come back.’ That is what is written: “The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:12).