Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
This verse captures the king of Nineveh's stated reason for calling the city to repentance — and what's striking is how honest it is about uncertainty. He doesn't claim to know that God will respond. 'Who knows?' is an admission that the outcome isn't guaranteed. The underlying assumption is that God, being merciful by nature, might respond to genuine repentance by changing course — what the verse calls 'relenting.' Throughout the Old Testament, God is portrayed not as a fixed, mechanical force but as a responsive being who takes human action seriously. The concept of God relenting doesn't mean God is inconsistent; it means God's compassion is real and engaged with what humans actually do. The king's logic was essentially this: we may face destruction either way, but if there is any possibility that mercy is available, it is worth pursuing with everything we have.
God, I come to you without certainty about how you will answer — only with the hope that you are the kind of God who might. Like the king of Nineveh, I am choosing to believe that your compassion is real and that my reaching toward you is not wasted. Meet my 'who knows' with your mercy. Amen.
'Who knows?' is not the language of certainty. It's not a promise, not a guarantee, not a theological formula the king had worked out in advance. He had a warning and a sliver of imagination — the idea that a God who bothers to send warnings might also be the kind of God who responds to repentance. So the entire city fasted and prayed and changed its behavior, on the basis of a maybe. On the off chance that compassion was on the table. There is something quietly profound here for anyone who has ever prayed without being sure prayer does anything — who has knelt beside a hospital bed, or stared at a ceiling at 3 AM, asking God for something with no promise of an answer. The king didn't wait for certainty before he acted. He acted because the possibility of mercy was worth pursuing with everything he had. You may not know how God will respond to your honesty, your repentance, your desperate asking. But 'who knows?' has always been enough to get on your knees. The possibility of compassion is worth the risk of reaching for it.
The king says 'who knows?' rather than expressing certainty — what does it tell you about genuine faith that it can exist alongside real uncertainty about the outcome?
Have you ever acted on hope rather than certainty — in prayer, in a relationship, in a major decision — and what was that experience like?
There's a deeper theological tension here: if God is unchanging, what does it mean for God to 'relent'? How do you hold together the idea of a God who is consistent with a God who is responsive?
The king's hope was grounded in a specific belief about God's character — that God might be compassionate. How does your understanding of what God is actually like shape whether and how you approach him when things are hard?
Is there a situation in your life right now where you've stopped praying or hoping because you're no longer sure it will make a difference? What would it look like to bring a 'who knows?' kind of faith back to that place?
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
Esther 4:16
Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.
Zephaniah 2:3
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Amos 5:15
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
Joel 2:13
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
Daniel 9:3
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:14
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:20
Who knows, God may turn [in compassion] and relent and withdraw His burning anger (judgment) so that we will not perish."
AMP
Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
ESV
'Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.'
NASB
Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
NIV
Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
NKJV
Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”
NLT
Who knows? Maybe God will turn around and change his mind about us, quit being angry with us and let us live!"
MSG