Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 18:8

If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

8. I will repent ] speaking after the manner of men. The sense is, I will alter my treatment, for among men change of conduct implies change of purpose.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I will repent of the evil … I will repent of the good – All Gods dealings with mankind are here declared to be conditional. God changeth not, all depends upon mans conduct.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. See Clarke on Jer 18:7.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil; if that nation leaveth off those sinful courses which I have by my prophets threatened with judgments;

I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them; I will also turn from the methods of my severe providence which I had resolved in case of their impenitency to proceed in against them. There is a difference betwixt repentance in man, and repentance as it is attributed to God; repentance in man must be, not only a change in action, but a change of heart; repentance as attributed to God never signifieth a change of heart, or purpose, or counsels, but only a change in action, all alteration of the course of his providence. Hence God in Scripture is said to repent, as in this text, and Jon 3:10. And it is also said of him, that he is not as man, that he should lie or repent, Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:29. God never changeth his counsels or purposes, though he often varieth his actions of providence, according to the behaviours of his creatures.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. their evilin antithesisto, “the evil that I thought to do.”

repentGod hereinadapts Himself to human conceptions. The change is not in God, but inthe circumstances which regulate God’s dealings: just as we say theland recedes from us when we sail forth, whereas it is we who recedefrom the land (Eze 18:21;Eze 33:11). God’s unchangeableprinciple is to do the best that can be done under all circumstances;if then He did not take into account the moral change in His people(their prayers, c.), He would not be acting according to His ownunchanging principle (Jer 18:9Jer 18:10). This is appliedpractically to the Jews’ case (Jer18:11; see Jer 26:3; Jon 3:10).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

If that nation against whom I have pronounced,…. Such a sentence as this, should immediately, upon the above declaration, do as Nineveh did:

turn from their evil; their evil of sin, their evil ways and works, as an evidence of the truth of their repentance for former sins:

I will repent of the evil that one thought to do unto them; as they change their course of life, God will change the dispensations of his providence towards them, and not bring upon them the evil of punishment he threatened them with; in which sense repentance can only be understood of God, he doing that which is similar to what men do when they repent of anything; they stop their proceedings, and change their outward conduct; so God proceeds not to do what he threatened to do, and changes his outward behaviour to men; he wills a change, and makes one in his methods of acting, but never changes his will.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But the Prophet speaks first of punishment; Suddenly, he says, will I speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to pull down, to extirpate and to destroy; that is, even they who seem far from all danger shall find that they are exposed to my judgment. But if a nation, he says, turns from its wickedness, against whom I have spoken, then I will repent of the evil, etc. The Prophet no doubt intended to shut up the mouths of the Jews, who, as we have before seen, continually contended with God; for he could not convince them that the punishments were just which God inflicted on them for their sins. As then they were thus perverse in their wickedness, and hypocrisy also had hardened them the more, the Prophet says here in God’s name, “When I speak against a nation and threaten final ruin, if it repents, I shall be immediately reconciled to it; there is therefore no ground for the Jews to expostulate with me, as though I dealt with them too severely; for they shall find me reconcilable if they repent from the heart.” It follows then, that their obstinacy was the cause why God proceeded in his judgments, for the repentance of God means no other thing than what Scripture says elsewhere, that he is merciful, slow to wrath, and ready to forgive. (Num 14:18; Psa 103:8.) He then here testifies, that nothing hindered the Jews from being in a better state but their own perverseness.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

8. Repent The strongest type of anthropopathic language applied to God, just as we ascribe the qualities of animate beings to inanimate; as “The sun rises;” “The shore recedes.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 18:8. If that nation, against whom, &c. As the threats of God are conditional, when they are suspended by his long-suffering and mercy, or prevented by the amendment of the persons against whom they are denounced; he is said in Scripture to repent: not that the phrase implies that there is any change in Him, but in us; and that his behaviour towards us, provided his denunciations were not conditional, is the same as if he repented, or changed his mind. But see what has been said on this subject in the note on Gen 6:6.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jer 18:8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

Ver. 8. Turn from their evil. ] If I may see such work among them, as at Nineveh God did. Jon 3:10 He saw not their sackcloth and their ashes, but their repentance and works – those fruits of their faith.

I will repent of the evil. ] Not by any change of my will, but by the willing of a change: mutatione Rei non Dei.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)