are there any examples of this?

[TommySoda]

Of God relenting judgment/punishment because the person prayed?

 

[Pilgrim]

Of God relenting judgment/punishment because the person prayed?

There's a few examples of people who prayed for protection from certain death or murder.

And there's this:

Jonah prayed from inside the belly of the huge fish and his life was spared... (Jonah 2:1-10)

 

[Loren T.]

Of God relenting judgment/punishment because the person prayed?

He relented of judgment on the whole city of Nineveh because they prayed and repented.

 

[SolomonVII]

Of God relenting judgment/punishment because the person prayed?

Nineveh.

 

[bcbsr]

Of God relenting judgment/punishment because the person prayed?

Ninevah - see book of Jonah.

 

[HTacianas]

He repented of destroying the Israelites in the desert at the prayer of Moses.

 

[icxn]

Hezekiah is also a very good example.

2 Kings 20:

1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”​

 

[bling]

Hezekiah is also a very good example.

2 Kings 20:

1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”​

Hezekiah would have been much better off allowing God to take his life (God knew what was best), read what son he bore and problems he caused by living longer.

 

[dreadnought]

Of God relenting judgment/punishment because the person prayed?

I think repentance is what the Lord is looking for (Luke 3:1-3).

 

[justbyfaith]

If there would have been ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrha, God would have spared those cities because of it; because that was where Abraham stopped in his intercession for those two cities; and God also said that He would have spared them for the sake of ten righteous people.

 

[justbyfaith]

Nineveh.

Did Jonah pray for Nineveh? My understanding is that he became mad at God for sparing it!

 

[SolomonVII]

Did Jonah pray for Nineveh? My understanding is that he became mad at God for sparing it!

Jonah was an unwilling prophet. Being a prophet, it is not a stretch to think that he knew very well that Nineveh and the Assyrians would be the death of Israel and scattering of the Ten Tribes into oblivion in the very near future.
He was very, very reluctant to offer them any way out of the fate of being destroyed by God's wrath. He really, really, really wanted them dead, and was absolutely disappointed that God spared them.

But he ended up delivering the message of 'repent or die", and the Ninevites repented and begged God for mercy, and God relented.

Nineveh listened to God's prophet, Jonah. Nineveh repented, and God relented.

This was really, really bad news for Jonah and the future of Israel.
By allowing Nineveh to live, God in effect left Israel exposed to the elements, and shrivelling in the heat of the sun.

 

[justbyfaith]

I see it differently. God by that experience was telling Jonah that Nineveh was like that plant that grew up in a night and perished in a night; and saying that the nation had given Him some pleasure so that He desired that it might not perish.

 

[SolomonVII]

I see it differently. God by that experience was telling Jonah that Nineveh was like that plant that grew up in a night and perished in a night; and saying that the nation had given Him some pleasure so that He desired that it might not perish.

Could be. Symbolism has that tendency to inspire many different insights in the mind of the reader.

The bottom line is that Israel perished as a result of Assyria not being destroyed. That is the history behind the story.
Assyria was eventually destroyed too, as one empire destroys another to be destroyed by the next.

But more pertinent to you first question, yes Jonah was mad at God.

 

[justbyfaith]

But more pertinent to you first question, yes Jonah was mad at God.

It wasn't a question.

(Oh yes, the question was, Did Jonah pray for Nineveh? In light of your answer I would think that he didn't pray for Nineveh, he may have even prayed against it, hoping for God to judge them as a nation).

 

[SolomonVII]

It wasn't a question.

(Oh yes, the question was, Did Jonah pray for Nineveh? In light of your answer I would think that he didn't pray for Nineveh, he may have even prayed against it, hoping for God to judge them as a nation).

That's right.
Jonah likely didn't pray for Nineveh.
But Ninevites prayed for Nineveh, and God relented punishment on account of their repentance.
That is why my example was of Nineveh, and not Jonah.

 

[justbyfaith]

I don't think that the Ninevites made any pretense of making prayers to YHWH; for He was not a god/God that they normally worshipped. I believe they simply repented out of the fear of the LORD (i.e. the impending judgment prophesied by Jonah). It says that God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. The extent of their prayer was to put on sackcloth (if you read the story).

Now am I saying that prayer is not useful in bringing us to that place of repenting and being able to walk with the Lord? Hosea 14:2 might say otherwise.

However there comes a time when you have prayed so much that you suddenly realize you have only been giving lip service to the Lord. There comes a time when you simply need to actually just do what you are asking God to help you do, to walk in His ways and to obey Him concerning whatever it is that He is calling you to do.

 

[icxn]

Jonah was an unwilling prophet. Being a prophet, it is not a stretch to think that he knew very well that Nineveh and the Assyrians would be the death of Israel and scattering of the Ten Tribes into oblivion in the very near future.
He was very, very reluctant to offer them any way out of the fate of being destroyed by God's wrath. He really, really, really wanted them dead, and was absolutely disappointed that God spared them...

I've never read this view in any of the Church Fathers. St. John Chrysostom says in one of his homilies that the reason Prophet Jonah did not want to warn the Ninevites, was because he suspected that God wanted to show mercy - otherwise why warn them - and he didn't want his prophecy to prove wrong and himself a false prophet. Verse 2 in chapter 4 suggests as much:

And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.​

 

[icxn]

I see it differently. God by that experience was telling Jonah that Nineveh was like that plant that grew up in a night and perished in a night; and saying that the nation had given Him some pleasure so that He desired that it might not perish.

The traditional interpretation* is that the plant represents the OT worship according to the letter, which offered some temporary respite from sin to the Jewish people, represented by Jonah, but became obsolete and was destroyed by Jesus Christ, the worm according to the Psalmist and the bait that hooked the Devil as we read in Job. He, our Lord Jesus Christ, is also the sun that arose after His resurrection and ascension and Who scorched the Jews with the trials that He send them because they did not repent of their sins and unbelief. Ninevah of course represents the Church of the Nations.

_________
* There's another interpretation when mapping the story to our spiritual condition... a topic for another thread.

 

[SolomonVII]

I've never read this view in any of the Church Fathers. St. John Chrysostom says in one of his homilies that the reason Prophet Jonah did not want to warn the Ninevites, was because he suspected that God wanted to show mercy - otherwise why warn them - and he didn't want his prophecy to prove wrong and himself a false prophet. Verse 2 in chapter 4 suggests as much:

And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.​

I don't think that I am saying anything different in my post. I would accept your response as a direct paraphrase of what my post is saying, in fact.
One source that has influenced my answer is Rabbi David Forhrman.