Amos 7:6

7:6 The Lord decided not to do this. ¹  The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”

Deuteronomy 32:36

32:36 The Lord will judge his people,

and will change his plans concerning ²  his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

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

Deuteronomy 32:1

Invocation of Witnesses

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

hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Deuteronomy 21:15

Laws Concerning Children

21:15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, ³  and they both ⁴  bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife.

Psalms 106:45

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented ⁵  because of his great loyal love.

Hosea 11:8

The Divine Dilemma: Judgment or Mercy?

11:8 How can I give you up, ⁶  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! ⁷ 

All my tender compassions are aroused! ⁸ 

Joel 2:14

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ⁹ 

and leave blessing in his wake ¹⁰  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ¹¹ 

Jonah 3:10

3:10 When God saw their actions – they turned ¹²  from their evil way of living! ¹³  – God relented concerning the judgment ¹⁴  he had threatened them with ¹⁵  and he did not destroy them. ¹⁶ 

James 5:16

5:16 So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. ¹⁷ 

[7:6]  ¹ tn Or “changed his mind about this.”

[32:36]  ² 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.

[21:15]  ³ tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.

[21:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[106:45]  ⁵ tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.

[11:8]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbs in 11:8 function as imperfects of capability. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[11:8]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.”

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[3:10]  ¹² tn This clause is introduced by כִּי (ki, “that”) and functions as an epexegetical, explanatory clause.

[3:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “from their evil way” (so KJV, ASV, NAB); NASB “wicked way.”

[3:10]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the disaster that he had spoken to do to them.”

[3:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he did not do it.” See notes on 3:8-9.

[5:16]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”