Jonah 3:10

3:10 When God saw their actions – they turned ¹  from their evil way of living! ²  – God relented concerning the judgment ³  he had threatened them with ⁴  and he did not destroy them. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 18:22

18:22 whenever a prophet speaks in my ⁶  name and the prediction ⁷  is not fulfilled, ⁸  then I have ⁹  not spoken it; ¹⁰  the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”

Deuteronomy 18:2

18:2 They ¹¹  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ¹²  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ¹³  and troops ¹⁴  who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

Deuteronomy 20:6

20:6 Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it.

Jeremiah 18:7-10

18:7 There are times, Jeremiah, ¹⁵  when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ¹⁶  18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, ¹⁷  I will cancel the destruction ¹⁸  I intended to do to it. 18:9 And there are times when I promise to build up and establish ¹⁹  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.

¹ tn This clause is introduced by כִּי (ki, “that”) and functions as an epexegetical, explanatory clause.

² tn Heb “from their evil way” (so KJV, ASV, NAB); NASB “wicked way.”

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “the disaster that he had spoken to do to them.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he did not do it.” See notes on 3:8-9.

⁶ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

⁷ tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”

⁸ tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”

⁹ tn Heb “the Lord has.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

¹⁰ tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”

¹¹ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

¹² tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”

¹³ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “people.”

¹⁵ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text but it is implicit from the introduction in v. 5 that he is being addressed. It is important to see how the rhetoric of this passage is structured. The words of vv. 7-10 lead up to the conclusion “So now” in v. 11 which in turns leads to the conclusion “Therefore” in v. 13. The tense of the verb in v. 12 is very important. It is a vav consecutive perfect indicating the future (cf. GKC 333 §112.p, r); their response is predictable. The words of vv. 7-10 are addressed to Jeremiah (v. 5) in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to speak to him (v. 2) and furnish the basis for the Lord’s words of conditional threat to a people who show no promise of responding positively (vv. 11-12). Verse six then must be seen as another example of the figure of apostrophe (the turning aside from description about someone to addressing them directly; cf., e.g., Ps 6:8-9 (6:9-10 HT). Earlier examples of this figure have been seen in 6:20; 9:4; 11:13; 12:13; 15:6.

¹⁶ tn Heb “One moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to…” So also in v. 9. The translation is structured this way to avoid an awkward English construction and to reflect the difference in disposition. The constructions are, however, the same.

¹⁷ tn Heb “turns from its wickedness.”

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ 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).