The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
Ver. 3. The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord] Here was mutatio rei, non Dei; facti, non consilii: a change, not of God's will, but of his work; therefore (by way of explication) it followeth, "It shall not be, saith the Lord." To speak properly, there can be no repentance in God, 1 Samuel 15:20, but this is spoken after the manner of men; and it notably setteth forth the power of faithful prayer, able, after a sort, to alter God's mind, and to transfuse a dead palsy into the hands of omnipotence, Exodus 32:10, where God is fain to bespeak his own freedom; and Moses is represented as the great chancellor of heaven.