Exodus 32:14

14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Exodus 32:14 in Other Translations

14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

14 So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.

14 And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.

14 So the Lord changed His mind about the disaster He said He would bring on His people.

Exodus 32:14 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:14

And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do
unto his people.
] He did not do what he threatened to do, and seemed to have in his thoughts and designs, but did what Moses desired he would, ( Exodus 32:12 ) not that any of God's thoughts or the determinations of his mind are alterable; for the thoughts of his heart are to all generations; but he changes the outward dispensations of his providence, or his methods of acting with men, which he has been taking or threatened to take; and this being similar to what they do when they repent of anything, who alter their course, hence repentance is ascribed to God, though, properly speaking, it does not belong to him, see ( Jeremiah 18:8 ) . Aben Ezra thinks that the above prayer of Moses, which was so prevalent with God, does not stand in its proper place, but should come after ( Exodus 32:31 ) for, to what purpose, says he, should Moses say to the Israelites, ( Exodus 32:30 ) "peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin": if he was appeased by his prayer before?

Exodus 32:14 In-Context

12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.

13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ”

14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.

16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 9:19; 1 Samuel 15:11; 2 Samuel 24:16; 1 Kings 21:29; 1 Chronicles 21:15; Psalms 106:45; Jeremiah 18:8; Jeremiah 26:3,19; Amos 7:3,6; John 3:10