Timely phonetic deletion

[rhu]

The intersection of the sets of friends who will actually get this is probably quite small, but I can't resist.

PHONETIC DELETION (3 4, ה)
(Surprisingly, 3 4 is not M-W although a similar phrase is 11-C findable)
(ה is ^ and not M-W)

The people were lawless,
So God sent the HEH.
(The THREE FOUR was too much
Back in Noah's day).

[Edited to add: I should clarify on the enumeration: The transliteration of the Hebrew word has five letters, but the word in Hebrew has four.]