Amos 7:3

Amo 7:3 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, 1Sa 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, Exo 32:10, where God is fain to bespeak his own freedom; and Moses is represented as the great chancellor of heaven.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:3-6 The Lord relented twice in response to Amos’s intercession.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, stayed this plague at my prayer.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

repented for this--that is, of this. The change was not in the mind of God (Num 2:19; Jam 1:17), but in the effect outwardly. God unchangeably does what is just; it is just that He should hear intercessory prayer (Jam 5:16-18), as it would have been just for Him to have let judgment take its course at once on the guilty nation, but for the prayer of one or two righteous men in it (compare Gen 18:23-33; Sa1 15:11; Jer 42:10). The repentance of the sinner, and God's regard to His own attributes of mercy and covenanted love, also cause God outwardly to deal with him as if he repented (Jon 3:10), whereas the change in outward dealing is in strictest harmony with God's own unchangeableness.

It shall not be--Israel's utter overthrow now. Pul was influenced by God to accept money and withdraw from Israel.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. The Lord repented] Changed his purpose of destroying them by the locusts. See Am 7:6.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) The Lord repented.—The judgment is withheld. On the anthropomorphism of Jehovah repenting, comp. Gen_6:5 and other passages.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. concerning this] viz. concerning the further undefined calamity, which He had purposed, and of which Amos had rightly interpreted the locusts as being the harbinger. “God is said to repent” (lit., as Arabic seems to shew, to sigh deeply, or groan) “upon (or over) evil, which He has either inflicted (Deu_32:36), or has said that He would inflict (Exo_32:12, Joe_2:13, Jon_3:10, Jer_18:8), and which, upon repentance or prayer, He suspends or checks” (Pusey).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord repented for this,.... He heard the prayer of the prophet, and at his intercession averted, the threatened judgment; thus the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, Jam 5:16; this is spoken after the manner of men; as men, when they repent of a thing, desist from it, so the Lord desisted from going on with this judgment; he did not change his mind, but changed the dispensations of his providence according to his mind and will:

it shall not be, saith the Lord; these grasshoppers or locusts, the Assyrian army, shall not at this time destroy the land of Israel: Pul king of Assyria took a sum of money of the king of Israel, and so turned back, and stayed not in the land, Kg2 15:19.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Lord repented for this - God is said to “repent, to have strong compassion upon” or “over” evil, which He has either inflicted Deu 32:36; 1Ch 21:15, or has said that He would inflict Exo 32:12; Joe 2:13; Jon 3:10; Jer 18:8, and which, upon repentance or prayer, He suspends or checks. Here, Amos does not intercede until after the judgment had been, in part, inflicted. He prayed, when in vision the locust “had made an end of eating the grass of the land,” and when “the fire had eaten up a part.” Nor, until Israel had suffered what these visions foretold, was he “small,” either in his own or in human sight, or in relation to his general condition. The “this” then, “of which God repented” and said, “it shall not be,” is that further undefined evil, which His first infliction threatened. Evil and decay do not die out, but destroy. Oppression does not weary itself out, but increases. Visitations of God are tokens of His displeasure, and, in the order of His justice, rest on the sinner. Pul and Tiglath-pileser, when they came with their armies on Israel, were instruments of God’s chastening. According to the ways of God’s justice, or of man’s ambition, the evil now begun, would have continued, but that God, at the prayer of the prophet, said, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further” Job 38:11.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The. Septuagint, "Repent, O Lord, on this head, and this shall," &c. --- Not be: the grass shall not be totally devoured. (Haydock) --- The king of the Assyrians invaded Juda in vain, 4 Kings xix. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Lord repented; this, spoke after the manner of man, is to be understood as becomes the immutability and omniscience of God; what a man when he repenteth doth, desisting front the thing, so God, desisting or suspending his own act, doth tell us he repenteth.

It shall not be: this explains the former; that sore famine like to be caused by these locusts came not, Amos prevailed by prayer, and the judgment was diverted.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Repented for this; or, concerning this destruction. The punishment was conditioned by man"s behaviour or other considerations. Here the prophet"s intercession abates the full infliction of the penalty (compare analogous expressions, Deu_32:36 1Sa_15:11 2Sa_24:16 Jer_18:8 Jer_42:10 Jon_3:10, where see note). Amos may have had in memory the passage in Joe_2:13. The LXX here and in ver. 6 has Metanohson Kurie epi toutw kai touto ouk estai legei Kuriov , "Repent, O Lord, for this; and this shall not be, saith the Lord." Hence some early commentators gathered that the prophet"s intercession was rejected; but the words do not necessarily bear that sense (see St. Cyril Alex. and Theodoret, in loc.). It shall not be. This respite refers to the retreat of the Assyrians under Pul, the usurping monarch who assumed the name of Tiglath-Pileser II (2Ki_15:17, etc.) Some commentators consider the judgment to be literally plague of locusts; but this is not probable.

The repentance of Jehovah.

Whatever it was of which the Lord is here said to have repented, the meaning, the lesson, is the same. The plague of locusts, the incursion of the foe, was stayed, and it was stayed in consequence of the prophet"s intercession, and because of the pity and loving kindness of Jehovah.

I NO CHANGE IS ASSERTED IN THE CHARACTER, THE GOVERNMENT, THE WILL, OF THE ETERNAL. In this sense the Lord is not a man that he should repent. Whilst all men are subject not only to vicissitudes of circumstances, but to variations in disposition, and even in principles of action, God is a stranger to all such mutability. "I," says he, "am the Lord that changeth not." Well for us is it that this is so; that we have not to do with a mutable, a capricious deity. Because he is the Lord that changeth not, therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed.

II BUT ALL THE THREATS OF THE DIVINE JUDGE ARE CONDITIONAL UPON HUMAN CONDUCT. The whole of revelation bears out this statement. What God commands he enforces with the promise of reward and with the threat of punishment. This is in accordance with his character and position as the Moral Governor of his universe. He does not, as an earthly tyrant might do, take pleasure in inflicting punishment upon any of his dependent creatures. On the contrary, he desireth not the death of a sinner. If the threatened respond to the appeal of Heaven, if they turn from their wickedness, they shall surely live, and not die. He repenteth him of the evil, and is favourable and forgiving towards the penitent.

III THE DIVINE REPENTANCE DEMANDS THE ADORATION AND THE PRAISE OF THOSE WHO OWE TO IT THEIR SALVATION. There is not one child of Adam who is not indebted to the repentance of Jehovah for the sparing of life, for long suffering, for the aversion of judgment. In fact, but for this, the original sentence against the sinner must have been fulfilled, and the race of mankind must have perished. Every successive interposition of Divine mercy has been the evidence of that relenting which exclaims, "How shall I give thee up?" And the advent and sacrifice of Immanuel, the mediatorial scheme, the redemption of mankind, the recovery of the lost, are all to be attributed to this same cause. The fountain of salvation must be discovered in the repentance of the Unchanging. It is a paradox; but it is a paradox honouring to God and life giving to man. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Repented - This is spoken after the manner of men.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

repented

(See Scofield "Zec 8:14").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord relented concerning this—He acquiesced to my prayer and was entreated of me.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.