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)..