According to Matthew Roper, the scholar Damrosch notes that the Hebrew term naham is sometimes applied to contexts involving "cases of regret or change of heart," frequently "when the repenter is meditating murder."
Repentance [or change of heart] then involves either the decision to kill, or conversely, the decision to stop killing. . . . usually it is God who repents, either negatively or positively; negatively, by deciding to destroy his people; positively, by commuting a sentence of destruction.
This explanation clearly fits the context of 1 Nephi 16:34-39, where Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael contemplate the murder of their father Lehi and their brother Nephi, the Lord is angry with them, and after being chastened by the Lord they turn away their anger and repent of their sins. The Lord also apparently turns away his wrath and does not destroy them with hunger. [Matthew Roper, "Unanswered Mormon Scholars," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 9/1 1997, p. 122]
Through the Wilderness to the Promised Land
(1 Nephi )