Jeremiah 18:8

If only the sinner would have recourse to repentance as quickly as God is willing to change that fixed sentence. Listen to the Lord through the prophet promise the greatest hope to the human race: "Finally I shall speak against a nation and against a …

Do not despair of salvation, God is saying. Even if I condemn a nation and threaten ultimate punishment, if I see their repentance, I extend mercy instead of inflicting punishment. If I promise an abundance of blessings, but they scorn me and embrace wickedness, I …

You may as well accuse God of falsehood because he said by the mouth of Jonah: "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." But God will reply by the mouth of Jeremiah, "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it does evil in my sight, that it obeys not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." Jonah, on a certain occasion, was indignant because, at God's command, he had spoken falsely; but his sorrow was proved to be ill founded, since he would rather speak truth and have a countless multitude perish than speak falsely and have them saved.

(Verses 7-10) Suddenly (or at the highest point), I will speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to uproot (or remove) and to destroy, and to utterly destroy it. If that nation turns away from the evil that I have spoken against it, I will relent and not carry out the harm that I planned to do to it. And suddenly (or at the highest point), I will speak about a nation and a kingdom, to build and to plant it. If he does evil in my eyes, so that he does not hear my voice, I will repent of the good that I have spoken to do to him. And in order to signify free will, he says that he both announces evil to a nation and kingdom, or to that one, and again good things: yet not that this will actually happen that he himself has predicted; but rather the opposite will occur, so that good things happen to evil people if they have repented, and bad things happen to good people if they have turned to sin after making promises. And we say this, not because God is unaware that this or that nation or kingdom will come into existence, but because he allows a person to follow their own will, so that they may receive rewards or punishments according to their own choice and their own merit. Not immediately will everything that happens be the accomplishment of man, but of his grace who has bestowed all things: so that the freedom of choice must be reserved, in such a way that the grace of the bestower excels in all things, according to that prophetic saying: Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, he watches in vain who guards it (Psalm 126:1-2). For it is not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Romans 9).

Moreover, that he might signify thereby the freedom of the will, the Lord said that he would announce punishments and rewards to the nations and to this king or that king. It was not that these events that he had predicted were to happen, but rather that good may be brought out of evil if they repented, or evil brought out of good if, after their resolutions, they returned to sin. Our point here is not that God was ignorant of what the nations and kings would do, but rather that he had endowed the human person with his own will, so that he would receive either a reward or a punishment on the basis of his own merit. Yet, what happens is not entirely dependent on a person, but also the grace that God has bestowed on all, for the freedom of the will must be restrained so that the grace of the Giver would excel in all things, according to the prophecy: "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor for nothing; unless the Lord keeps the city, do the guards watch over it in vain." For "it is not of the one who wills or of the one who runs, but of the God who has mercy."