They were "lost [unsaved]" persons for the entire 120 years Noah was preparing the ark and being a preacher of righteousness... and they "disobeyed" all that long time... The word "knew" ("they knew not") is NOT defined as "they'd never heard a thing about it"... It's that they heard the warning / the Word of God via Noah, and
DISREGARDED it... They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage CLEAR UP TO the day Noah entered the ark, with no regard to the Word of God via Noah, the building of the ark, the parade of animals coming to Noah to board ship... they disregarded ALL THAT
for MANY YEARS! (over a hundred years, most likely... coz 1Pet3:20 says "while the ark was preparing"... all that while they "apeithēsasin [G544 - a word that carries the meaning of "DISBELIEVED"]")
... the same thing that (for example) those who will witness the death of the "2W" (you probably don't believe they are literal "THESE TWO PROPHETS"), "they that dwell upon the earth" will "REJOICE OVER THEM" (that they've been killed) "and MAKE MERRY, and SHALL SEND GIFTS to one another"... at the time-frame of the "6th Trumpet events [when the "2nd Woe" will be just about to be announced as "past"--
meaning the "1st Woe unto the earth" IS well-past--and THAT one's at MID-TRIB--
3.5 years INTO this thing, already]"... so they're already FAR INTO THE TRIB and they are OBLIVIOUS of all the SIGNS that have already been blazing all around them, and "our Rapture" event that preceded ALL of that
OVER 3.5 years EARLIER (which many will
INCORRECTLY label as the "gather ye
FIRST the
TARES" as having happened, when they are
only aware ppl have gone MISSING, that's it! [a wrong "application" of that passage, however])
Ppl that DISREGARD God's Word (
via any form it's presented) WILL NOT be aware, *
because* they "DISBELIEVE" and thus will not give a hoot about "counting down to the end / to His "RETURN" [
which they will not even BELIEVE IN]" !! (ONLY "the RIGHTEOUS" / "the WISE" will heed God's Word, at that time--why are you expecting "the WICKED" [also the "ye CURSED" Jesus will call them] to concern themselves with such a thing, when they will NOT BELIEVE IT, "just as in Noah's day"--ONLY NOAH [and crew] "knew" AND PREPARED... no one else BELIEVED the Word of God via Noah / the warning... again, "KNEW" does NOT mean they'd NEVER HEARD... NO. Doesn't mean that!)
I think you're hung up on a fictional version of things that someone has presented to you, and you can't seem to move past it. Like a mental block.
The SAME WORD is used here:
[G1097] - John 10:6 - John 10:6 Greek Text Analysis (biblehub.com)
https://biblehub.com/text/john/10-6.htm
"
Jesus spoke to them this allegory,
but they did not know [G1097] what it was that He
was saying to them."
The word does
not mean
they'd never heard a thing about it... just that
in their disbelieving (
meaning, those back in Noah's day--the Word of God via Noah) it had
no impact on their own preparation, because they
disregarded the Word of God via Noah... thus they perished in the flood ("and took them all away"...
in judgment).
[Lk17:27,29 "and destroyed
them ALL" is NOT what takes place following "our Rapture [IN THE AIR]," but what takes place at the time of His Second Coming to the earth--but they (certain ones, not all!) will NOT BELIEVE He is coming, see... so why would ppl who DON'T BELIEVE be "counting the days"?? They'll be mocking those who WILL BE and who DO KNOW (at that time)]