And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
The Lord smelled a sweet savour. The sacrifice offered by a righteous man like Noah, in faith, was acceptable as the most fragrant incense, (cf. Exodus 29:18; Leviticus 1:9; Leviticus 1:13; Leviticus 1:17; Leviticus 2:9; Leviticus 3:5, etc.) Paul (Ephesians 5:2) has applied this strong Oriental figure to describe the acceptable nature of the sacrifice of Christ, and thereby led us to see in Noah and his preservation in the ark a type of Christ and the salvation which is only to be obtained in the Gospel Church.
Lord said in his heart - same as, "I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth" (Isaiah 54:9). The words express the divine determination or secret decree before it was revealed to Noah, as it was on this occasion.
For the imagination of man's heart is evil. The Hebrew term "for," is rendered 'though,' in the margin of our Bibles (Exodus 13:19; Joshua 17:18); and it is usually considered an improvement in the translation. But a very good sense is conveyed by the word as it stands in the King James Version, which intimates clearly that, considering man's proneness to corruption and sin 'from his youth up' - i:e. the hereditary and inherent evil of his nature-God would exercise forbearance toward him; and instead of destroying the world again on his account, place it under an established economy of grace, which would secure a continuance of fruitful seasons, filling all classes with food and gladness. "For" since the imagination of man is habitually evil, instead of inflicting another destructive flood, I shall spare them, to enjoy the blessings of grace through a Saviour.