So they approached the village where they were going. He acted as though he wanted to go farther, ¹ 

And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, ¹  as your rulers did too.

I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

“But they – our ancestors ¹  – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled ²  and did not obey your commandments.

I will make ¹  the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the sovereign Lord.”

even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant ¹  man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,

They were unfaithful ¹  and acted as treacherously as ²  their ancestors; they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow. ³ 

We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses.

You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ¹  It is we who have been in the wrong!

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines ¹  have exacted merciless revenge, ²  showing intense scorn ³  in their effort to destroy Judah ⁴  with unrelenting hostility. ⁵ 

But I refrained from doing so, ¹  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

“Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, ¹  if you have properly repaid him ²  –

So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub-Baal and his family ¹  today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness! ² 

Later King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an alliance with King Ahaziah of Israel, who ¹  did evil.

we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked; we have rebelled by turning away from your commandments and standards.

His people have been unfaithful ¹  to him; they have not acted like his children ²  – this is their sin. ³  They are a perverse ⁴  and deceitful generation.

I acted for the sake of my reputation, ¹  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ²  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ³ 

We have sinned like ¹  our ancestors; ²  we have done wrong, we have done evil.

When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray; ³  we have done evil.’

When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray ³ , we have done evil!’