soothing, pleasing: the quality of a sacrifice that God finds acceptable and welcome.
This word almost never travels alone. In all but a handful of its appearances it sits in one fixed expression, a pleasing aroma, describing the smell of an offering rising to God. The picture is warm and personal: the smoke of the sacrifice drifts up, God takes it in, and he is pleased. It is the Bible's way of saying that an offering was accepted, that the worshiper and God are at peace.
The word carries a note of calm or relief. Many scholars connect it to the family of words for rest and settling down, so the sense is not just that the smell is nice but that it settles something between the worshiper and God. That is why English translations often reach for soothing or restful rather than merely sweet.
The same expression turns up in unwelcome settings, and that is part of its meaning, not a separate one. When Israel burns offerings to false gods, the prophets bitterly call those a pleasing aroma too, the worshipers acting as if their idols were delighted. And when God is judging his people, he warns that he will not smell their pleasing aromas anymore: the very phrase that signaled acceptance now signals its withdrawal. In every case the word points to the same thing, an offering meant to please the one who receives it.