1 Samuel 12:22

12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ¹  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

1 Samuel 15:29

15:29 The Preeminent One ²  of Israel does not go back on his word ³  or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 19:9

19:9 Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon ⁵  Saul. He was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing the lyre. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “on account of his great name.”

² tn Heb “splendor,” used here by metonymy as a title for the Lord.

³ tn Or perhaps “does not lie.”

⁴ sn This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Change His Mind?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

⁵ tn Heb “[was] to.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds here “with his hand.”