Passage

1 Samuel 15.29

Book: 1 Samuel · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

27. And as Samuel turned about to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it rent. 28. And Samuel said unto him, Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou.

29. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.

Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Jehovah thy God. 31. So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped Jehovah. (1 Samuel 15:27-31, ASV)

WEB

27. As Samuel turned around to go away, Saul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28. Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

29. Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.”

Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.” 31. So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh. (1 Samuel 15:27-31, WEB)

KJV

27. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28. And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

29. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. ^{Strength: or, Eternity, or, Victory}

Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. 31. So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD. (1 Samuel 15:27-31, KJV)

YLT

27. And Samuel turneth round to go, and he layeth hold on the skirt of his upper robe, and it is rent! 28. And Samuel saith unto him, 'Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee to-day, and given it to thy neighbour who is better than thou;

29. and also, the Pre-eminence of Israel doth not lie nor repent, for He [is] not a man to be penitent.'

And he saith, 'I have sinned; now, honour me, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me; and I have bowed myself to Jehovah thy God.' 31. And Samuel turneth back after Saul, and Saul boweth himself to Jehovah; (1 Samuel 15:27-31, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Samuel, addressing Saul
Audience: Saul, after the failure at Amalek
Location: Gilgal
Time period: the early monarchy, eleventh century BC

Theological reading

The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. The sentence is the standard proof text for divine immutability, and it stands in a chapter that twice says the LORD repented that he had made Saul king, at verses 11 and 35.

The tension is inside a single chapter and it is deliberate. The Hebrew verb is the same, nacham, in the denial and in the two reports. Any reading that resolves the difficulty by treating one of the three occurrences as loose language has to explain why the writer placed them so close together.

The most defensible reading takes the denial as a claim about God's covenantal reliability rather than a claim that God never responds. What Samuel is refusing is precisely what Saul wants, namely a reversal of the sentence just passed. God is not a man who can be argued round, flattered, or worn down. That is a statement about the kind of agent God is in relation to promises and judgments, and it is fully compatible with a narrative in which God responds to changed circumstances, because responsiveness is not the same as unreliability.

The verse is also a caution against a use to which it is often put. It does not by itself establish the strong metaphysical immutability of classical theism, and it does not by itself refute it. It is a statement about God's character in the specific matter of reversing a word already given, and both classical and relational traditions can accommodate it, which is why the debate is not settled here.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H5162 - nacham, nacham, Strong's H5162
H0120 - adam, adam, Strong's H0120

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

H5162 - nacham

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.