Psalms 106:45

The retrospective affirmation — 'for their sake he remembered his covenant and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love' — concludes Psalm 106's sustained rehearsal of Israel's wilderness rebellions with the theological key that explains why the covenant relationship survived despite repeated failures. The verb 'relented' (yinnachem — to change course, to have compassion) is applied to God in the context of judgment averted by covenantal memory, a pattern also seen in Exodus 32:14 after the golden calf and Amos 7:3, 6 after prophetic intercession. The grounding of relenting in 'the abundance of his steadfast love' (rov chasadav) identifies divine compassion as the driving force rather than mere divine flexibility or arbitrariness. The verse provides the theological framework for Psalm 106's use in the Diaspora context as a prayer for current exile: past relenting grounds hope for future compassion (verse 47).