1 Kings 15:29
But the triumpher in Israel will not spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for he is not a man that he should repent.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Porro triumphator in Israël non parcet, et pœnitudine non flectetur : neque enim homo est ut agat pœnitentiam.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ διαιρεθήσεται Ἰσραὴλ εἰς δύο, καὶ οὐκ ἀποστρέψει οὐδὲ μετανοήσει, ὅτι οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν τοῦ μετανοῆσαι αὐτός.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְגַם֙ נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר וְלֹ֣א יִנָּחֵ֑ם כִּ֣י לֹ֥א אָדָ֛ם ה֖וּא לְהִנָּחֵֽם
Haydock's commentary
Triumpher. Some suppose that he speaks ironically of Saul. A prince, like you, will not repent. (Calmet)
But it more probably refers to God, who would not fail to execute his threats against the king. (Haydock)
Hebrew, "the victor in Israel will not lie, he will not repent." Septuagint, "and Israel shall be split in two, and the holy one of Israel shall not turn nor repent." Saul's rejection became now inevitable. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine City of God, Of the Disruption of the Kingdom of Israel, by Which the Perpetual Division of the Spiritual from the Carnal Israel Was Prefigured
Again Saul sinned through disobedience, and again Samuel says to him in the word of the Lord, “Because thou hast despised the word of the Lord, the Lord hath despised thee, that thou mayest not be king over Israel.” And again for the same sin, when Saul confessed it, and prayed for pardon, and besought Samuel to return with him to appease the Lord, he said, “I will not return with thee: for thou hast despised the word of the Lord, and the Lord will despise thee that thou mayest not be king over Israel. And Samuel turned his face to go away, and Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and rent it. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom from Israel out of thine hand this day, and will give it to thy neighbor, who is good above thee, and will divide Israel in twain. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXXXII
11. “The Lord hath made a faithful oath unto David, and He shall not repent” ( ver. 11 ). What meaneth, “hath made an oath”? Hath confirmed a promise through Himself. What meaneth, “He shall not repent”? He will not change. For God suffereth not the pain of repentance, nor is He deceived in any matter, so that He would wish to correct that wherein He hath erred. But as when a man repents of anything, he wisheth to change what he hath done; thus where thou hearest that God repenteth, look for an actual change. God doth it differently from thee, although He calleth it by the name of repentance; for thou dost it, because thou hadst erred; while He doth it, because He avengeth, or freeth. …