Why Does Genesis 6:8 Say that God Repented? Does God Repent?

And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them (Genesis 6:7).

Many English translations prefer to say that God was sorry he made people or that he was grieved; but a BLB.org search into how the original Hebrew word for repent (nacham) was used throughout the Old Testament gives us a little different view on the matter.

Nacham was used 108 times in the Old Testament with two distinct meanings.  One meaning is "to comfort or be comforted;"  the other is to change one's mind, regret, or repent.  This second meaning often defines God's behavior and emotions (as will be seen below).  So how does this look like in the Old Testament?

Even Bible translator's have a difficult time grasping that God "repents" - that He changes His mind from time to time.  They struggle with it for two reasons.  The first is because repentance has become a foundational word to Christians meaning to turn from sin to God.  The word repent in this respect is always negative and something we could never see God doing.  But the Old Testament did not see repentance as only turning from some moral bad to good. Often it is a neutral word that means to change one's view or to change from one direction to another.

The second reason it is so hard to argue that God repents is because on two occasions God emphatically stated that He does not repent.  But looking at Genesis 6, before the flood, God repented.  So I decided to get to the bottom of the issue and find out how the word nacham (repent) is used in the Bible.

AS NACHAM REFERS TO PEOPLE

When God finally spoke to Job, correcting him, Job said, "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).”

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt (Exodus 13:17).” 

And in Jeremiah, God noticed that people did not turning from their wickedness:

I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle (Jeremiah 8:6).

So there are a few passages of of people changing their plans or changing their ways, and when people repent, it is always from bad to good.  But repentance in the Old Testament is not always a change of morality (from bad to good, from following sin to following God) for most of repenting in the Old Testament is not accomplished by people but by God.  Examples of God repenting in the Old Testament are numerous.  So even before studying these, we must conclude that the word repent does not always refer to the turning away from individual or moral sin, for God does not sin.  What it does refer to is changing course - turning around.

GOD IS NOT A MAN THAT HE SHOULD REPENT

First of all, there are the commonly known verses that says that God is not man that he should repent.  When King Balak called upon Balaam to curse Israel, no matter which spot he went to, he could not curse Israel.  Eventually Balaam told the king, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent (Numbers 23:19)."  Balaam wanted to curse Israel and make money doing so, but could not because God had warned him previously to say only what God told him to say.  Balaam knew that God was determined only to bless His people, so Balaam tried another tactic to change God's mind, because Balaam knew that there was a way around the steadfast Word of God.  The Bible doesn't say it, but Balaam's advice to King Barak reveals that he knew that God will repent under the right circumstances.  This will be addressed later in this page.

The prophet and priest Samuel also claimed that God was not One to repent as he told King Saul: And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent (1 Samuel 15:29).

These two verses are used over and over and over again in sermons and writings to claim that God is a constant that will never change.  But these two verses are offset by dozens of examples throughout the Bible where God repented of His intentions or acts and where the Bible says clearly that God repented of something.

There are three other places in the Bible where God said He would not change His mind (Psalm 110:4, Jeremiah 4:28, Ezekiel 24:14), but in those examples, God was claiming that in those particular cases, He was not going to repent. 

WHEN GOD DOES REPENT

The Old Testament gives us several examples of God repenting from actions he had already begun or planned to accomplish.

Moses

While Moses was on the Mt. Sinai receiving commandments, Israel turned to idolatry and made plans to return to Egypt.  Because of this, God wanted to kill off the entire nation and raise up Moses as the father of a nation, but Moses would not have it and reminded God of the consequences of such an action.  Moses argued that God would lose credibility in the world and gain a reputation of being a God who could not protect His own people after having delivered them from Egyptian slavery.  God listened to Moses and "the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people (Exodus 32:14)."

Amos

When God spoke through Amos declaring that the fields would be destroyed by locusts, Amos talked God out of this decision. Amos 7:3 tells us that God repented from what he was planning: "The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD."  In this passage, the people haven't even had time to change their ways.  Instead, like in the example with Moses, the prophet talked God out of His plan to destroy His people.  Both Moses and Amos knew that it was possible to argue with God and change His plans for evil toward His people.

Jeremiah

Years after telling Balaam and Samuel that He does not repent, God told Jeremiah that He will repent under certain circumstances.  He told Jeremiah that He would repent when nations change in good or in bad directions.  For example, when God promised evil to some nation and that nation changes its course, God said:

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 (Jeremiah 18:8). God also gave a message for Jeremiah for the people of Judah who came to worship at the temple: If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings (Jeremiah 26:3). So God reserves the right to change His mind - to repent - of evil or good promised to a nation if that nation changes course in the opposite direction. A very interesting passage in Jeremiah is God's word to him stating: You have forsaken Me,” says the LORD, “You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting (Jeremiah 15:6)! Both the NLT and the NIV have translated this verse in a way that deflects from God being tired of repenting and somehow translates the verse to say something completely different.  The NLT says, "I am tired of always giving you another chance." And the NIV says, "I am tired of holding back."   The NIV comes closer to the idea of repentance in that He held back from what He determined to do, but the Bible is a little more specific in claiming that God was tired of repenting of the evil He determined to do to Israel which Jeremiah recorded several times. Jonah This change of heart toward a nation is clearly spelled out in Jonah. God gave Jonah a message of destruction for Nineveh, but Jonah knew God was capable of repenting from His word and Jonah did not want that to happen.  Jonah wanted God to follow through with his plans to destroy the city and he was afraid that if he preached evil toward Nineveh, the city would have the opportunity to turn away from their evil and change God' mind (as the Bible says, God would repent from the evil he planned).  So Jonah ran from the presence of the Lord. Eventually after being tossed into the sea and swallowed up and puked out by a fish, Jonah went to Nineveh and told them what God wanted them to hear: They had 40 days before God was going to destroy the city.  The people turned away from their wickedness, fasted and then turned to God who repented of the evil He decided against them.   And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not (Jonah 3:10). After all was said and done, Jonah grew angry and let God know that he expected God to change his mind all along.  Jonah got angry with God because he knew that God could very easily repent from His determination to destroy Ninevah.  Jonah hated Nineveh which was an enemy to Judah and to Israel and he wanted Nineveh to be destroyed and that's why he ran away in the first place.  For if he didn't preach, they would not know to repent and turn to God, and then their evil would stir up the wrath of God to its ultimate degree. Weird thing is, all the events that happened on the ship, the calming of the sea when Jonah was thrown overboard, and being swallowed and thrown up by a fish; stories of Jonah's run from the Lord and God's amazing deliverance may have been the very reason Nineveh listened to this crazy preacher from Judah.  Jonah's original plan backfired. NUMBERS 23 AND BALAAM Going back to the original verse in Numbers 23:19 that says God does not repent, if we look a little bit closer, something very interesting surfaces.  In Numbers23, God told Balaam that what He says does not change and no amount of trying to change God will have any affect on Him.  Balaam, a prophet who took money for his pronouncements, wanted to curse Israel to make a large sum of money, but could not because God would not allow it.  No matter how much Balaam tried to, he could not curse Israel because God would only have him bless Israel. But Balaam knew what would make God repent from His word.  He told the king (who hired him to proclaim evil against Israel) to send young women into the camp of Israel and fornicate with the men, because fornication at such a level would turn God against His own people and away from the blessing He issued. His plan worked and God punished His people after having blessed them through Balaam.  The Bible does not say that God repented in this case, but like Jonah, Balaam knew that God changed His attitude toward nations based on their behaviors. WHEN GOD REPENTS FOR WHAT HE DOES God regretted making Saul king. After God sent an angel to kill people in Judah, and in the middle of this destruction, God repented. When the Psalmist in Psalm 106 recounts the story of Israel during the time of the Judges, he wrote that after Israel sacrificed their children to other gods, in His wrath, He gave them over to their enemies.  But as their oppression got worse, God repented. CONCLUSIONS God does repent - not from sin to righteousness, but in His decisions and actions.  God changes His mind for good or for evil.  When I say for good or for evil, these are not universal terms, but terms that refer to humankind.  When God turns against a nation because of sin, that will seem to be evil for that nation, but in fact, may be good in the long run; or it may be the complete and utter ruin of such a nation.  God reserves the right to repent based upon the actions of people.  He clearly spelled this out for Jeremiah. 5 times in the Bible God states that He does repent, but 29 times in the Bible God either repents or prophets talk about Him repenting. Some people have the ability to change God's intentions through supplication.  Both Moses and Amos were able to change God's intentions.  In both cases a nation continued because of two men who argued with God and were able to convince God to repent. Finally, God does make some decisions He afterwards regrets (repents of).  He regretted making Saul king and He regretted making humankind in Genesis 6. But after the flood, even though Genesis does not say God repented, it does say, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done (Genesis 8:21)."