Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

At the scent of water, it shall spring, and bring forth leaves, as when it was first planted.

From the fragrance of water it doth flourish, And hath made a crop as a plant.

Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.

at the scent of water, it will sprout and bring forth leaves, as when it had first been planted.

Yet through the scent of water - The word here rendered "scent" (ריח rêyach) means properly the odor or fragrance which anything exhales or emits; Song 2:13; Song 7:13; Genesis 27:27. The idea is very delicate and poetic. It is designed to denote a gentle and pleasant contact - not a rush of water - by which the tree is made to live. It inhales, so to speak, the vital influence from the water - as we are refreshed and revived by grateful odorifles when we are ready to faint.
It will bud - Or, rather, it will germinate, or spring up again - יפרח yapârach; see the notes at Isaiah 55:10.
And bring forth boughs - קציר qâtsı̂yr. This word usually means a harvest; Genesis 8:22; Genesis 30:14; Genesis 45:6. It also means, as here, a bough, or branch; compare Psalm 80:11; Job 18:16; Job 29:19.
Like a plant - Like a young plant - as fresh and vigorous as a plant that is set out.

Through the scent of water it will bud - A fine metaphor: the water acts upon the decaying and perishing tree, as strong and powerful odors from musk, otto of roses, ammonia, etc., act on a fainting or swooning person.

Yet through the scent of water it will bud,.... As soon as it smells it, or perceives it, is sensible of it, or partakes of its efficacy; denoting both how speedily, and how easily, at once as it were, it buds forth through the virtue either of rain water that descends upon it, or river water by which it is planted, or by any means conveyed unto it; particularly this is true of the willow, which delights in watery places; and, when it is in the circumstances before described, will by the benefit of water bud out again, even when its stock has been seemingly dead:
and bring forth boughs like a plant; as if it was a new plant, or just planted; so the Vulgate Latin version, as "when it was first planted"; or as a plant that sends forth many branches: the design of this simile is to show that man's case is worse than that of trees, which when cut down sprout out again, and are in the place where they were before; but man, when he is cut down by death, rises up no more in the same place; he is seen no more in it, and the place that knew him knows him no more; where he falls he lies until the general resurrection; he rises not before without a miracle, and such instances are very rare, and never either before or at the resurrection, but by the omnipotence of God; whereas a tree, in the above circumstances, sprouts out of itself, according to its nature, and in virtue of a natural power which God has put into it; not so man (y).
(y) "Mutat terra vices-----nos ubi decidimus", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7.

scent--exhalation, which, rather than the humidity of water, causes the tree to germinate. In the antithesis to man the tree is personified, and volition is poetically ascribed to it.
like a plant--"as if newly planted" [UMBREIT]; not as if trees and plants were a different species.

Scent - By means of water. Scent or smell, is figuratively ascribed to a tree.