Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, A Translation with Commentary, W.W. Norton & Company 2018 ( Copyrighted material)
For context concerning Alter's themes, refer to M. Scher's Sefaria Sheet: INTRODUCTION to GENESIS: Robert Alter: Parshat HaShavua: Series of Sefaria sheets in progress (November 2022),
Parshat NOAH Genesis 6:9-11:32,
Verse 8:21-22:
Koran translation:
וַיָּ֣רַח יהוה אֶת־רֵ֣יחַ הַנִּיחֹ֒חַ֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יהוה אֶל־לִבּ֗וֹ לֹֽא־אֹ֠סִ֠ף לְקַלֵּ֨ל ע֤וֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּעֲב֣וּר הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֠י יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף ע֛וֹד לְהַכּ֥וֹת אֶת־כׇּל־חַ֖י כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִֽׂיתִי׃
And the Lord smelled the sweet savour; and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the impulse of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.
עֹ֖ד כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ זֶ֡רַע וְ֠קָצִ֠יר וְקֹ֨ר וָחֹ֜ם וְקַ֧יִץ וָחֹ֛רֶף וְי֥וֹם וָלַ֖יְלָה לֹ֥א יִשְׁבֹּֽתוּ׃
While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
GENESIS Text 8:21-22
Alter Translation:
… and the Lord said in his Heart, “I will not again damn the soil on humankind’s score. For the devisings of the human heart are evil from youth. And I will not again strike down all living things as I did.
As long as all the days of the earth -
seedtime and harvest
and cold and heat
and summer and winter
and day and night
shall not cease.”
[Quotation marks are in Alter's translation]
Alter Notes on Verse 21 (Excerpted)
And the Lord smelled the fragrant odor
….
The thanksgiving sacrifice is evidently a requisite narrative motif taken from the Mesopotamian antecedents, but the Hebrew writer's attitude toward it may be more complicated than meets the eye. The first reported animal sacrifice, though equally pleasing to God, led to the murder of the sacrificer. Noah is about to be warned about the mortal danger of bloodguilt …. In any case Divine acceptance of ritual offering does nothing to mitigate man’s dangerous impulses.
And the Lord said in His heart.
The idiom means "said to himself" but it is important to preserve the literal wording because it pointedly echoes 6:6, "and was grieved to the heart" …. But, after the Flood, God once more recognizing the evil of which man is capable, concludes that, ...it is scarcely worth destroying the whole world again on his account.
...
I will not again.
The repetition of this phrase may reflect, as Rashi suggests a formal oath, the solemnity of which would then be capped by the poetic inset at the end (which uses an unconventional short-line form, with only two accents in each verset). What is peculiar is that this is a pledge that God makes to Himself, not out loud to Noah. The complementary promise to Noah, in the next chapter, will be accompanied by the external sign of the rainbow. The silent promise in God's interior monologue invokes no external signs, only the seamless cycle of the seasons that will continue as long as the earth.