Can prayer change God's mind?

The Bible describes God responding to prayer in ways that sound like a change of mind—most strikingly when Moses intercedes for Israel after their idol worship, and the text says "the Lord relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring."

Christians read this differently depending on their broader view of God's nature. Classical theism holds that God is unchanging in his essential being, and that language describing God "relenting" reflects a real change in the situation or outcome—not a change in God's eternal knowledge or character—described in relatable human terms so we can understand it. A different view, sometimes called open theism, reads this more directly: that God genuinely and actively responds to prayer as it happens, in a way that involves real change.

Both views agree prayer isn't pointless and that Scripture consistently portrays God as genuinely responsive to it.