Pope Shenouda III
Jonah
God is prepared to relent if man returns from his wrong ways.
God does not insist on every letter uttered from His mouth as if to say: "I have said a word and it must be carried out no matter what!" No. God is not like this. How easily does the Holy Bible say that the Lord returned from His hot displeasure: "the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people" (Ex. 32:14). And in the story of the people of Nineveh the Holy Bible repeats the same verse: "God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" (Jon. 3:10)..
