וישלח את העורב, to find out if the atmosphere had dried out after the tops of the mountains had become visible. Noach wanted to know if the atmosphere in the meanwhile was such that the raven could tolerate it.

ויצא יצוא ושוב, this proved that the atmosphere was not yet dry enough for the raven to tolerate it for any extended period of time.

וישלח את היונה, all of the seven pairs of pigeons [based on the latter ה in front of the word יונה. Ed.]

לראות הקלו, if the atmosphere had improved they would build their nests in the mountains and high structures as is their custom.

כי מים על פני כל הארץ, even on the tops of the mountains which had become visible, everything was still thoroughly wet so that even there לא מצא מנוח לכף רגלו, it could not find a resting place for its foot.

ויסר נח את מכסה התבה, he had thought that the earth had already dried out completely only to find

והנה חרבה פני האדמה, that whereas there was a thin layer of earth above the water, the earth had not yet dried out thoroughly.

את ריח הניחוח, proving that at that time all these species of ritually pure animals were fit as sacrifices.

In His heart. He did not reveal this resolution to Noach and his sons until after they had accepted His commandments and He established His covenant with them.

For the inclination of man’s heart. Human makeup was now inferior to what it was before the flood and the intellect no longer held sway during the years of youth. This enabled the appetites to achieve domination

עוד כל ימי הארץ זרע וקציר, וקור וחום, וקיץ וחורף, ויום ולילה, לא ישבתו; nature will not cease to function dependably as it had prior to the deluge. The sun will orbit predictably, its orbit will be subject to calculation in advance, so will be its position relative to other phenomena in the sky. All the time periods mentioned in this verse will somehow be related to the position of the sun at different times during the year. It would be different from before the deluge. Whereas prior to the deluge the sun had remained at a fixed distance relative to the earth all year round, its orbit being circular, resulting in eternal spring in the populated parts of the earth, now there would be all these changes, though at predetermined intervals, resulting in alternating seasons of relative warmth and cold due to the elliptical nature of the sun’s orbit [Although the author lived approximately at the time of Copernicus having determined that the earth moves around the sun instead of being the center of our galaxy, the basic concept even according to the ancient world view does not invalidate the author’s description of antediluvian and postdiluvian climatic conditions. Ed.. כל ימי הארץ, until such time as G’d would correct this deterioration in living conditions on earth due to the effect of the deluge. This “correction” is what the prophet Isaiah 66,22 had in mind when he spoke of the הארץ החדשה אשר אני עושה, “the new earth which I am going to make.” In that future foreseen by the prophet, the sun will once more orbit like a circle instead of like an ellipsis, a configuration responsible for the uneven temperatures on earth during different parts of the year. At that time, the whole vegetation on earth will undergo an upgrading, the curse earth experienced both after Adam’s sin and after Kayin’s murder of his brother Hevel being lifted. Conditions of length of human life will revert to what they had been before the deluge, as the prophet said that a נער, a youth, if he dies at a hundred years old will be considered as having died in his adolescence and more verses there describing this future. This is also what David referred to in Psalms 65,9 מוצאי בוקר וערב תרנין, “You make the lands of sunrise and sunset shout for joy.”