Final answer:
The Bible provides a few details about the world before the Flood, describing it as a time of significant moral decay, which led to God sending the Flood as punishment, sparing only Noah's family.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Bible provides a few details about the world before the Flood. It describes conditions of widespread moral corruption and violence that apparently prompted the deluge. In Genesis, the antedilu_vian (pre-Flood) period is depicted as a time when the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and this corruption led God to decide to cleanse the world through the Flood, sparing only Noah and his family because of Noah's righteousness.
This narrative shares similarities with other ancient Near Eastern texts, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, which also includes a flood story. However, the motivations of the divine beings in these stories differ considerably, with the Mesopotamian gods described as capricious and the God of Genesis enacting the Flood as punishment for human sinfulness.
Artistic representations, like the one in Villalpando's The Deluge, often depict the Flood's catastrophic impact on humanity, highlighting the tragic consequences of divine retribution and the deliverance represented by Noah's Ark.