Amos 7:3

“The Lord repented for this, etc.] He heard the prayer of the prophet, and at his intercession averted, the threatened judgment; thus the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, (<590516>James 5:16); this is spoken after the manner of men; as men, when they repent of a thing, desist from it, so the Lord desisted from going on with this judgment; he did not change his mind, but changed the dispensations of his providence according to his mind and will: it shall not be, saith the Lord; these grasshoppers or locusts, the Assyrian army, shall not at this time destroy the land of Israel: Pul king of Assyria took a sum of money of the king of Israel, and so turned back, and stayed…”

“repented for this--that is, of this. The change was not in the mind of God (Num 2:19; Jam 1:17), but in the effect outwardly. God unchangeably does what is just; it is just that He should hear intercessory prayer (Jam 5:16-18), as it would have been just for Him to have let judgment take its course at once on the guilty nation, but for the prayer of one or two righteous men in it (compare Gen 18:23-33; Sa1 15:11; Jer 42:10). The repentance of the sinner, and God's regard to His own attributes of mercy and covenanted love, also cause God outwardly to deal with him as if he repented (Jon 3:10), whereas the change in outward dealing is in strictest harmony with God's own unchangeableness. It…”

“The Lord repented for this - God is said to “repent, to have strong compassion upon” or “over” evil, which He has either inflicted Deuteronomy 32:36; 1 Chronicles 21:15, or has said that He would inflict Exodus 32:12; Joel 2:13; Jonah 3:10; Jeremiah 18:8, and which, upon repentance or prayer, He suspends or checks. Here, Amos does not intercede until after the judgment had been, in part, inflicted. He prayed, when in vision the locust “had made an end of eating the grass of the land,” and when “the fire had eaten up a part.” Nor, until Israel had suffered what these visions foretold, was he “small,” either in his own or in human sight, or in relation to his general condition. The “this”…”

“Repented - This is spoken after the manner of men. Amos 7:4”

“7:3-6 The Lord relented twice in response to Amos’s intercession.”

“Amo 7:6; Deu 32:36; Ch1 21:15; Psa 106:45; Hos 11:8; Joe 2:14; Jon 3:10; Jam 5:16 Amos 7:4”