Genesis 8:21
וַיָּרַח יְהוָה אֶת־רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־לִבּוֹ לֹֽא־אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּר הָֽאָדָם כִּי יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע מִנְּעֻרָיו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִף עוֹד לְהַכּוֹת אֶת־כָּל־חַי כַּֽאֲשֶׁר עָשִֽׂיתִי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיָּ֣רַח יְהוָה֮ אֶת־רֵ֣יחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־לִבּ֗וֹ לֹֽא־אֹ֠סִף לְקַלֵּ֨ל ע֤וֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּעֲב֣וּר הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֠י יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף ע֛וֹד לְהַכּ֥וֹת אֶת־כָּל־חַ֖י כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִֽׂיתִי׃
καὶ ὠσΦρἀνθη κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὀσμἠν εὐωδίας, καὶ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς διανοηθείς Οὐ προσθήσω ἔτι τοῦ καταράσασθαι τὴν γῆν διὰ τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅτι ἔγκειται ἡ διάνοια τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ ἐκ νεότητος· οὐ προσθήσω οὖν ἔτι πατάξαι πᾶσαν σάρκα ζῶσαν καθὼς ἐποίησα.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Odoratusque est Dominus odorem suavitatis, et ait: Nequaquam ultra maledicam terræ propter homines: sensus enim et cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adolescentia sua: non igitur ultra percutiam omnem animam viventem sicut feci.
El aroma del sacrificio le agradó a Yehová, quien pensó: “Nunca más volveré a maldecir la tierra por culpa del hombre, aunque desde su juventud sus intenciones sean malas. Tampoco volveré a destruir a todos los seres vivos, como acabo de hacerlo.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y percibió Jehová olor de suavidad; y dijo Jehová en su corazón: No tornaré más á maldecir la tierra por causa del hombre; porque el intento del corazón del hombre es malo desde su juventud: ni volveré más á destruir todo viviente, como he hecho.
When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “ Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Following the sacrifice, Yehovah smells the pleasing odor and resolves internally — "to his heart" — never again to curse the ground because of humankind, nor to strike down all living things as had been done. The stated reason involves the yetzer ("inclination") of the human heart being ra' ("evil") from youth.
Key words
- va-yarach ("and he smelled", H7306) — hiphil narrative verb; the causative stem here denotes the act of perceiving/inhaling an odor, opening the divine reaction to the sacrifice.
- reiach ha-nichoach ("odor of the soothing", H7381 + H5207) — construct chain; reiach ("odor of") governs nichoach ("soothing"), a fixed cultic phrase describing the smell as calming or appeasing.
- el-libbo ("to his heart", H3820A + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix following the preposition 'el; marks the speech as internal deliberation rather than public address.
- yetzer lev ha-adam ("inclination of the heart of humankind", H3336 + H3820A + H0120G) — double construct chain: yetzer ("inclination of") governs lev ("heart of"), which governs ha-adam ("humankind"); this stacks three nouns into one compact expression.
- minne'urav ("from his youth", H5271A + H9023) — construct plural noun with suffix, preceded by the preposition min ("since/from"), indicating a starting point extending to the present.
What the text says
The verse opens with two narrative vav-forms — va-yarach ("and he smelled") and va-yomer ("and he said") — the standard chain marking sequential action in Biblical Hebrew narrative: smelling leads directly to speaking. The speech itself is introduced by 'el-libbo ("to his heart"), a construct phrase with a pronominal suffix that frames what follows as internal resolve rather than an address to another party.
The core of the resolution uses the hiphil imperfect 'osif ("I will repeat/add", H3254G) twice, each time negated by lo' ("not") and paired with an infinitive (le-qallel, "to curse"; le-hakkot, "to strike down"). This construction — negated 'osif plus infinitive — is a common Hebrew idiom for "I will not do X again," built literally on the verb "to add/repeat" rather than a separate word for "again," though 'od ("again", H5750) reinforces the sense in both clauses.
The clause introduced by ki ("for/that", H3588A) gives the stated basis: yetzer lev ha-adam ra' minne'urav — a triple construct chain ("inclination of heart of humankind") followed by the predicate adjective ra' ("evil", H7451H) and the temporal phrase minne'urav ("from his youth"). The construct stacking compresses what English requires several prepositional phrases to express.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew names the deity Yehovah (H3068G) throughout; the LXX renders this as Κύριος ὁ θεός ("Lord God"), adding "God" where the Hebrew has only the divine name. The LXX also renders the ki clause with ὅτι attached to a description of the mind being "intently set" (ἔγκειται... ἐπιμελῶς) on evil, a fuller phrasing than the Hebrew's terse yetzer... ra' ("inclination... evil"). The Vulgate expands the single Hebrew yetzer ("inclination") into two nouns, sensus... et cogitatio ("sense and thought"), where the Hebrew presents one noun in construct chain.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.