Lamech’s hope then resides with God’s blessing on Noah, who, as the flood account shows, perpetuates the Sethite lineage and hence the imago Dei promises of creation as the recipient of God’s renewed covenant commitment (8:21–9:17). This alleviation (“comfort”) does not come about as Lamech wishes, however, for the relief comes only after a calamitous flood. Ironically, it is the Lord, not Noah, who ultimately accomplishes the salvation of the human family (see 6:6 discussion). Because of God’s injured heart at the sin of mankind, both the purge of sinful man and the preservation of the divine plan are consequently set in motion. Afterward we find a final play on the motif of “rest” and “Noah” in the acceptance of Noah’s offering as a “soothing aroma” (rêaḥ ḥannîḥōaḥ; see 8:21 discussion). By the patriarch’s worship and propitiatory offering, the Lord’s wrath is satisfied. The “comfort,” then, is righteous Noah’s role in initiating a new era as the “new Adam” who perpetuates the family blessing by virtue of God’s covenant mercies (6:8; 8:1, 21–22; 9:1–17).