Keluaran 32:14

32:14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.

Bilangan 23:19

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ¹  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ² 

Ulangan 32:36

32:36 The Lord will judge his people,

and will change his plans concerning ³  his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

Ulangan 32:1

Invocation of Witnesses

32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;

hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

1 Samuel 15:11

15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

1 Samuel 15:29

15:29 The Preeminent One ⁴  of Israel does not go back on his word ⁵  or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” ⁶ 

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ⁷  Israel along the way when Israel ⁸  came up from Egypt.

1 Samuel 24:16

24:16 When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Then Saul wept loudly. ⁹ 

1 Samuel 24:1

David Spares Saul’s Life

24:1 (24:2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, “Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi.”

1 Samuel 21:15

21:15 Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?”

Mazmur 106:45

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented ¹⁰  because of his great loyal love.

Mazmur 110:4

110:4 The Lord makes this promise on oath ¹¹  and will not revoke it: ¹² 

“You are an eternal priest ¹³  after the pattern of ¹⁴  Melchizedek.” ¹⁵ 

Yeremia 18:8-10

18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ¹⁶  I will cancel the destruction ¹⁷  I intended to do to it. 18:9 And there are times when I promise to build up and establish ¹⁸  a nation or kingdom. 18:10 But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

Yeremia 26:19

26:19 King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah did not put him to death, did they? Did not Hezekiah show reverence for the Lord and seek the Lord’s favor? ¹⁹  Did not ²⁰  the Lord forgo destroying them ²¹  as he threatened he would? But we are on the verge of bringing great disaster on ourselves.” ²² 

Hosea 11:8

The Divine Dilemma: Judgment or Mercy?

11:8 How can I give you up, ²³  O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

I have had a change of heart! ²⁴ 

All my tender compassions are aroused! ²⁵ 

Yunus 3:10

3:10 When God saw their actions – they turned ²⁶  from their evil way of living! ²⁷  – God relented concerning the judgment ²⁸  he had threatened them with ²⁹  and he did not destroy them. ³⁰ 

Maleakhi 3:6

Resistance to the Lord through Selfishness

3:6 “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, ³¹  you, sons of Jacob, have not perished.

Roma 11:29

11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

Ibrani 6:17-18

6:17 In the same way ³²  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ³³  and so he intervened with an oath, 6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him ³⁴  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

Yakobus 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ³⁵  is from above, coming down ³⁶  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ³⁷ 

[23:19]  ¹ tn Heb “son of man.”

[23:19]  ² tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

[32:36]  ³ tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.

[15:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

[15:29]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

[15:29]  ⁶ sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “lifted his voice and wept.”

[106:45]  ¹⁰ tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.

[110:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “swears, vows.”

[110:4]  ¹² tn Or “will not change his mind.” The negated Niphal imperfect of נָחַם (nakham) is a way of marking an announcement as an irrevocable decree. See 1 Sam 15:29; Ezek 24:14, as well as R. B. Chisholm, “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[110:4]  ¹³ sn You are an eternal priest. The Davidic king exercised a non-Levitical priestly role. The king superintended Judah’s cultic ritual, had authority over the Levites, and sometimes led in formal worship. David himself instructed the Levites to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chr 15:11-15), joined the procession, offered sacrifices, wore a priestly ephod, and blessed the people (2 Sam 6:12-19). At the dedication of the temple Solomon led the ceremony, offering sacrifices and praying on behalf of the people (1 Kgs 8).

[110:4]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase עַל־דִּבְרָתִי (’al-divratiy) is a variant of עַל־דִּבְרָת (’al-divrat; the final yod [י] being an archaic genitival ending), which in turn is a variant of עַל דָּבַר (’al davar). Both phrases can mean “concerning” or “because of,” but neither of these nuances fits the use of עַל־דִּבְרָתִי in Ps 110:4. Here the phrase probably carries the sense “according to the manner of.” See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 81.

[110:4]  ¹⁵ sn The Davidic king’s priestly role is analogous to that of Melchizedek, who was both “king of Salem” (i.e., Jerusalem) and a “priest of God Most High” in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:18-20). Like Melchizedek, the Davidic king was a royal priest, distinct from the Aaronic line (see Heb 7). The analogy focuses on the king’s priestly role; the language need not imply that Melchizedek himself was “an eternal priest.”

[18:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

[18:8]  ¹⁷ tn There is a good deal of debate about how the word translated here “revoke” should be translated. There is a good deal of reluctance to translate it “change my mind” because some see that as contradicting Num 23:19 and thus prefer “relent.” However, the English word “relent” suggests the softening of an attitude but not necessarily the change of course. It is clear that in many cases (including here) an actual change of course is in view (see, e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9; Jer 26:19; Exod 13:17; 32:14). Several of these passages deal with “conditional” prophecies where a change in behavior of the people or the mediation of a prophet involves the change in course of the threatened punishment (or the promised benefit). “Revoke” or “forgo” may be the best way to render this in contemporary English idiom.

[18:8]  sn There is a wordplay here involving the word “evil” (רָעָה, ra’ah) which refers to both the crime and the punishment. This same play is carried further in Jonah 3:10-4:1 where Jonah becomes very displeased (Heb “it was very evil to Jonah with great evil”) when God forgoes bringing disaster (evil) on Nineveh because they have repented of their wickedness (evil).

[18:9]  ¹⁸ sn Heb “plant.” The terms “uproot,” “tear down,” “destroy,” “build,” and “plant” are the two sides of the ministry Jeremiah was called to (cf. Jer 1:10).

[26:19]  ¹⁹ tn This Hebrew idiom (חָלָה פָּנִים, khalah panim) is often explained in terms of “stroking” or “patting the face” of someone, seeking to gain his favor. It is never used in a literal sense and is found in contexts of prayer (Exod 32:11; Ps 119:158), worship (Zech 8:21-22), humble submission (2 Chr 3:12), or amendment of behavior (Dan 9:13). All were true to one extent or another of Hezekiah.

[26:19]  ²⁰ tn The he interrogative (הַ)with the negative governs all three of the verbs, the perfect and the two vav (ו) consecutive imperfects that follow it. The next clause has disjunctive word order and introduces a contrast. The question expects a positive answer.

[26:19]  ²¹ tn For the translation of the terms involved here see the translator’s note on 18:8.

[26:19]  ²² tn Or “great harm to ourselves.” The word “disaster” (or “harm”) is the same one that has been translated “destroying” in the preceding line and in vv. 3 and 13.

[11:8]  ²³ tn The imperfect verbs in 11:8 function as imperfects of capability. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[11:8]  ²⁴ tn The phrase נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לִבִּי (nehpakh ’alay libbi) is an idiom that can be taken in two ways: (1) emotional sense: to describe a tumult of emotions, not just a clash of ideas, that are afflicting a person (Lam 1:20; HALOT 253 s.v. הפך 1.c) and (2) volitional sense: to describe a decisive change of policy, that is, a reversal of sentiment from amity to hatred (Exod 14:5; Ps 105:25; BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ 1; HALOT 253 s.v. 3). The English versions alternate between these two: (1) emotional discomfort and tension over the prospect of destroying Israel: “mine heart is turned within me” (KJV), “my heart recoils within me” (RSV, NRSV), “My heart is turned over within Me” (NASB), “My heart is torn within me” (NLT); and (2) volitional reversal of previous decision to totally destroy Israel: “I have had a change of heart” (NJPS), “my heart is changed within me” (NIV), and “my heart will not let me do it!” (TEV). Both BDB 245 s.v. 1.b and HALOT 253 s.v. 3 suggest that the idiom describes a decisive change of heart (reversal of decision to totally destroy Israel once and for all) rather than emotional turbulence of God shifting back and forth between whether to destroy or spare Israel. This volitional nuance is supported by the modal function of the 1st person common singular imperfects in 11:8 (“I will not carry out my fierce anger…I will not destroy Ephraim…I will not come in wrath”) and by the prophetic announcement of future restoration in 11:10-11. Clearly, a dramatic reversal both in tone and in divine intention occurs between 11:5-11.

[11:8]  ²⁵ tn The Niphal of כָּמַר (kamar) means “to grow warm, tender” (BDB 485 s.v. כָּמַר), as its use in a simile with the oven demonstrates (Lam 5:10). It is used several times to describe the arousal of the most tender affection (Gen 43:30; 1 Kgs 3:26; Hos 11:8; BDB 485 s.v. 1; HALOT 482 s.v. כמר 1). Cf. NRSV “my compassion grows warm and tender.”

[3:10]  ²⁶ tn This clause is introduced by כִּי (ki, “that”) and functions as an epexegetical, explanatory clause.

[3:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from their evil way” (so KJV, ASV, NAB); NASB “wicked way.”

[3:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “calamity” or “disaster.” The noun רָעָה (ra’ah, “calamity, disaster”) functions as a metonymy of result – the cause being the threatened judgment (e.g., Exod 32:12, 14; 2 Sam 24:16; Jer 18:8; 26:13, 19; 42:10; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 6). The root רָעָה is repeated three times in vv. 8 and 10. Twice it refers to the Ninevites’ moral “evil” (vv. 8 and 10a) and here it refers to the “calamity” or “disaster” that the Lord had threatened (v. 10b). This repetition of the root forms a polysemantic wordplay that exploits this broad range of meanings of the noun. The wordplay emphasizes that God’s response was appropriate: because the Ninevites repented from their moral “evil” God relented from the “calamity” he had threatened.

[3:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the disaster that he had spoken to do to them.”

[3:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and he did not do it.” See notes on 3:8-9.

[3:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “do not change.” This refers to God’s ongoing commitment to his covenant promises to Israel.

[6:17]  ³² tn Grk “in which.”

[6:17]  ³³ tn Or “immutable” (here and in v. 18); Grk “the unchangeableness of his purpose.”

[6:18]  ³⁴ tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.

[1:17]  ³⁵ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ³⁶ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ³⁷ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).