who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah: The wicked or disobedient spirits had lived during Noah’s day. "In the days of Noah," when they were people on earth in the flesh is the period of time that they were disobedient; this then must have been the time of Christ’s preaching which called for obedience (1 Peter 1:10-11).