John Calvin Commentary Psalms 106:45

"And he remembered for them his covenant, And repented according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses." — Psalms 106:45 (ASV)

And he remembered—God's mindfulness of His covenant is presented here as the cause of His great mercy and long-suffering. In that covenant, He not only declares that there is a gracious pardon for transgressions, but He also refers to the perverse blindness of those who were not brought back by such remedies to the covenant, in which they were well aware their safety was found.

But above all, he charges them with ingratitude; because, when they deserved to perish, they did not acknowledge that they were indebted to the mercy of God alone for their preservation. This observation is strengthened by the next clause of the verse, in which he says that God had spared them according to the greatness of his mercies. For the greatness of the punishment which their sins deserved can be inferred from the great treasures of His loving-kindness, which God had to open in order to secure their redemption.

The word to repent expresses no change in God, but only in the mode of administering His corrections. It may seem as if God altered His purpose when He mitigates punishment or withdraws His hand from executing His judgments. The Scripture, however, accommodating itself to our weak and limited capacity, speaks only in human terms.